Colors of the Wind
by KaiPhoenix
Summary: What if Crystal Tokyo never came to be? What if there was more behind the organizations that protected the Galaxy than the Federation was aware of? People aren't who you really thought they were. (Written for NaNoWriMo '12)
1. Chapter 1

**Colors of the Wind**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Star Trek nor do I own Sailor Moon. I do own my original characters and the idea for this story. I haven't seen it anywhere else and have been working on the idea for this since early 2010. No infringement is intended.

**Dedicated to:** My friend occultkat for the inspiration for this story and my sister Sam for the fingerless gloves that made typing it possible.

**1. Absolute Zero**

She was silent as she watched them leave her behind. She knew there was a good reason for it, had actually planned for it to happen, but it still didn't prepare her for the actuality.

It hurt. It hurt far more than she had ever thought it possibly would or even could. She was alone once again, alone with no one but her own thoughts. Thoughts that wouldn't be for her betterment, even if they would be for the others. This was the only thing that would keep her going for years to come. She had a purpose, a goal, a reason for why this was happening.

It didn't change the anguish that stayed strung across her soul. The absolute zero within her that sobbed silently like a small child that had been left to die in the bitter cold without even a tree for comfort and no water besides the frozen crystals that would continually fall around her stationary form. The memory of any warmth stolen from her mind by the mindless expanse around her no devoid of any feeling at all.

But…

It was worth it. Though that would not become permanently true for far longer than she cared to think about.

**2. Alien Armpit**

Out of everything she was setting out to do this was the worst. Seriously, if she was going to be watching her princess's family through the ages until she died, then she didn't ever want to be stuck on diaper duty _ever_ again.

But the chances of it happening were greater than her chances of escaping it successfully were.

Lovely.

**3. Alloy Orange**

She ducked the ray of light that shot out over their heads and lifted the small form in her arms higher from the ground, clutching the whimpering child hard to her chest. She didn't worry about leaving bruises behind, the consequences of dropping the child were what worried her far more. She kept the others in their group in her mind, making sure that none would be left behind. She knew that she wasn't the leader of this group. On the contrary, she was nothing more than someone who would always follow. She could never be a leader and she never would be. It wasn't something that she resented, though she had seen others in her long life who had resented their place in life. She was more than content with her role in life and had always been so.

In a way, she had been born for this duty: to watch over those younger than her, but never to be the one in charge. She followed her orders to the spirit as well as the letter. It was more than just duty, it was her life. She was just fine with that and she always would be.

She continued to listen to their pursuers as they slowly fell further and further behind. She followed the teen in front of her as she dodged out of the path they had consistently been following for the last few kilometers. She kept the teen in front of her, following directly in her footsteps so as to confuse anyone that might have caught any part of their trail. It was highly unlikely though as the final person in their group was following them, carefully obscuring their trail even further. She didn't worry that they would be found.

She trusted her liege with all her heart and soul and he had never let her down before. She didn't see him taking the time to let her down now.

**4. Almond**

He was silent as the bowl was placed before him. It was fluffy and green with slices of other things within the leaves. He wasn't sure what everything was called anymore, it had been so long since he'd been able to think of food as anything but what they could scrounge and even longer since he'd actually eaten more than a few crumbs. He, as well as the other teens in their group, had made sure that most of the food had gone to the children, the youngest first. They were older and wouldn't require as much; at least that was what they told the children when they were asked if they were going to eat.

The colors in the bowl were all different from what he was used to eating after so long. The only color that he even recognized was a small sliver of white-brown, darker on the inside of the slices than the outside. They looked like a few of the nuts that one of their group had found on a foraging mission. They hadn't been very palatable, but they had been edible and so they were gathered and added to their supplies, what meager ones that they had.

"Is everything all right?"

His eyes slipped away from the small portion of salad in front of him up to the cook. He nodded slowly and then reached out with his fingers to eat the food in front of him. He was slow and methodical about it. He hadn't thought to use the utensils provided. Such implements had been used for other things by their group during That Time.

"I'm glad that you're able to keep that down. The Captain was worried, but I told her that she didn't need to worry at all. It's one of the preferred recipes to give those who haven't been able to each much more than Leola root broth for some reason or another in this sector."

He listened to his current host ramble on about this or that thing, not really paying attention to what he was saying as he focused most of his abilities on eating slow enough to not upset his stomach. He wasn't sure what it was about the cook who was even now talking about other dishes that were more than popular in this sector or in the next sector as well, but he made him feel safe. As if he could trust this man with not only his own life, but with the lives that he was looking after as well.

"Well! I'm glad that you're enjoying the salad! I know that you won't be able to eat much of the rest of my menu, not yet anyway, but this is certainly a step in the right direction!" the lion-like man in front of him beamed at him as he gathered the now empty bowl and the small fork from the table and carried them off into the kitchen to clean.

The young man sitting at the table didn't rise or follow the other man with anything other than his eyes. He didn't know this man, didn't think he would have had a chance to know him if things had been different. But there was something there, something that reminded him of another.

**5. Amazon Rainforest**

She wasn't wild about leaving them like that, but she knew that if anyone had a chance of finding help, then it was her. She wasn't going to let any of their hard work go to waste, even if a large part of that work had already gone wrong in that it only saved a handful of them rather than everyone like it was supposed to.

She shook her head and purposefully turned away from the planet that was in front of her. She had already left its gravitational pull, but she wasn't far enough away that she wouldn't be able to see it yet. She still had a little way family, what little of it was here, wasn't even really on the planet yet. They wouldn't be for some time, and that, more than anything else, was what she was grateful for. It was one of the few mistakes in their calculations that were able to give a positive spin on the whole thing. She would know when they did arrive and where they would materialize on the planet. She had already planned for this before leaving the planet's surface and had set up a rudimentary camp with things that they would need and had even been able to set something up that would have food of some kind ready for them when they'd get there.

The planet's surface, at the least the area that they would arrive on, was in a strange forest that reminded her of ones from their home planet when she was younger, much younger. They had enormous trees and some animal life, but didn't really have much in the way of sentient life forms, or if they did, they weren't the kind that lived in the forest or even above ground. She had made sure of the area's safety before she'd even begun to set up a campsite. She wasn't going to leave anything to chance. As a safety precaution in case someone came along, somehow, she had left something behind as an assurance that no one would be able to find their campsite. She may be weak and starving, but she was still in better condition than any of the others in their group, both from before the Accident and after it. She also had resources that would work better at protecting this kind of place than most others did. She'd also left a message behind just in case she wasn't able to get back before they arrived so that they would know what had happened to her.

She continued her journey out of the present solar system and made sure that she kept at least some part of her abilities open in such a way that would alert her if there was anyone close by that would either need her assistance or that would be able to assist her and her family when they finally did arrive. She was heading out to make any kind of allies she could in the hopes that they would be beneficial to her mission. That didn't mean that she would be anything less than cautious about how or when she would approach them. They had already learned what happened when you gave someone power and they didn't use it for the betterment of those in their care.

She had learned those lessons before, when she was younger, but it was one of those lessons that a person seemed destined to learn and relearn throughout their life if they wasn't to be able to trust anyone outside of themselves. Sadly, this time it would take more for her to unconditionally trust anyone with her family's safety. She hadn't had a lesson like the one Kodos the Executioner had taught her in a while and she was hoping that she would never need such a lesson ever again.

**6. Amethyst**

He wasn't sure why it was that he had taken so long to think things over. Maybe it was because such a large part of his life was gone. No, more than one part. Several parts were missing and all he was left with was the broken remains. He had himself, his mother and his brother's keeper. His mother wasn't handling things very well, but she was at least able to recognize that and moved to get what help she could. Mostly, that just meant that she worked out in the black as much as she possibly could, only staying and working dirt-side when she could no longer handle being so far away from what little of her husband she had left.

Unfortunately, that didn't mean that she was missing her only remaining son the most. It meant that she was missing the sunshine of the Sol System's star as it shone down on the Iowa cornfields. She missed working with plants on her birth planet and missed seeing the sunflowers that she kept at the house turning their heads resolutely after the sun. Just as she had done when her first husband was alive. She did love her son and a part of her did miss him when she was away from him, but he wasn't enough to keep her more than a little aware of what her life was lacking. She didn't ignore him when she was home and she didn't ignore his comms or any of the letters that he wrote her. She answered all of them faithfully and was never one to stop reminding her child that she loved him.

He just wasn't enough.

For the most part, he didn't hold this against her. He had resented her need to be out in the Black for a few years, when it was just him and his brother as well as their keepers. She had left them with her brother, Frank.

Frank wasn't the worst person to take care of children, though he certainly wasn't the best either. His fiancé had left him after spending a few years trying to get along with his nephews. She wasn't ready to be a mother, even if they wouldn't actually become hers when she and Frank married. Frank, of course, didn't take this well. Not many people would, but he didn't take his anger out on the boys, though there were times when it was a near thing. When those times came, Frank would retreat to the garage and work on a car that his sister had left behind.

Frank wasn't the best mechanic, but he was a young man who had lost what he had thought was his whole life because his sister couldn't' handle the death of her husband and so had dumped her children on him when his life was just starting. At first, he'd damaged the car, smashing the window first and then the headlights and then trying to crush the pieces of glass into fine powder. He hadn't damaged much else on the car as anything else would require a lot more to repair. He knew that once he'd worked out his anger he'd feel ashamed that he'd broken something to so beautiful. It was one of the main reasons that he would make sure there was food in the house, lock all the doors and windows and then walk away from his nephews after making sure that they would be able to comm him if there was an emergency. He also let them know that unless there was a genuine emergency they shouldn't try to contact him.

He'd yell at them and ground them and sometimes be set off by the smallest of things, but he never touched them in any way that inappropriate for an uncle. He loved those kids, they were family, but he was younger than his sister and wasn't used to dealing with a baby and a young boy. Sometimes he would lose his temper too fast around the children, but he only threw non-breakable items. After the first few times he almost clipped one of the kids with a wooden toy that had been their father's, he boxed away all the breakable figurines that his sister had left behind and put them in the attic. He also made sure there were little decorative pillows in every room in the house, just in case.

One of his friends had asked him why he was going to so much trouble for kids that weren't even his and that his sister obviously didn't care about. Frank had answered that they were family and family always stuck together. His friend had stared at him for one long moment and then promptly finished his beer and told Frank that he should be prepared to getting called daddy a lot then. Frank had scowled and left the bar, making sure to pick the kids up from the babysitter's down the road and hadn't gone to the bar for several weeks after that. This didn't stop him from instilling in his nephews that he was Uncle, not daddy, not mommy and not 'hey you.'

Frank had wanted children of his own, someday, and his fiancé had wanted them too. She hadn't wanted them so soon, however and wasn't prepared to take care of them for what seemed an indefinite time. When she'd left him, she'd left behind the engagement ring he'd given her on the kitchen table. It was one of the first nights that Frank's two nephews had cuddled around him as he cried himself to sleep. In Frank's hand was a simple band of white gold with an amethyst set in a heart of smaller yellow diamonds.

**7. Antique Brass**

Kirk looked around at his crew. They were good people, people that he would, and did, trust with his life. He trusted them to do their jobs, regardless of what they thought of the mission, the people they would meet or even what they thought of him. He wouldn't have been able to pull off defeating Nero without them, and he was thankful for their own faith in him, even if it was somewhat dubious at the time. He knew that they had come to trust and respect him just as much as he did them. If any of them had personal issues with one another or not, they were able to keep them from interfering with their work or how they treated each other, which was always professional since that first mission together.

He dismissed the alpha crew when the beta crew came up and he joked with Sulu down the turbo lift before he got off on Deck 5, heading for one of the smaller Observation Lounges. It was slightly larger than his own quarters and had a much better view of the stars that trailed behind the _Enterprise_ in her wake. He would stand there, watching them as they flew by for almost an hour before he would then leave and head for the Medical Bay to harass Bones. Some days he didn't even stop to look out this window for more than 10 minutes before he'd head straight for his friend. McCoy was aware of his habits and could usually tell how his day had gone dependent on how long it took him to come to his office to chat while the doctor finished up his work for the day.

Kirk stopped as he entered the Observation Lounge, surprised to find another in it. He's even more surprised by who it is.

"What are you doing here?" he asks before he can stop himself.

"Just watching the stars go by." Is the answer in a calm deep voice, a voice that Kirk hasn't heard in longer than he's been a member of the Starfleet Academy.

Kirk frowns at him and steps the rest of the way into the room, allowing the doors to close behind him. He stays quiet for the amount of time it takes him to cross the room and stand beside his guest. Both of them are silent for several long moments, Kirk wouldn't be able to tell just how long those moments actually were and he wasn't really bothered by that. For all he knew time had been more or less stopped for this discussion and no time or barely any at all would have passed at the end of everything.

"I see that," he finally said, still a Starfleet Captain even if he wasn't currently on duty. Starfleet Captains were always really on duty as long as they were on their ship and not in the brig.

His companion glanced at him, a smirk crawling onto his face before he looked back out the window. He said nothing, allowing the quiet to linger around them peacefully. Or at least, as peacefully as it could be with someone that wasn't really trusted on a personal level, but was on a professional one.

Kirk glanced at his companion again, taking in the smirk and the twinkle that was in the man's eye. "You're not even trying."

"No, I'm not." The man agreed, "Yet I'm still having just as much fun."

"Why are you here? You can 'see the stars' whenever and wherever you want. Why come here specifically?"

The man continued to smirk as he stared out at the stars they were passing by, not answering. The twinkle in his eye was reaching Loki Level. A level that Kirk had always been extra wary of, but also knew that the ending outcome was usually a better ending than any other, even if it was done in such an absurd or even outright ridiculous way just to amuse his companion. Who turned and flipped a shiny piece of metal to the human captain. Kirk caught the slightly larger than a silver dollar sized piece of brass and looked down at the marking engraved on it.

Captain Kirk slowly bled away to just Jim and he turned and shared a smirk with the man beside him. "So, it's going to be like that. Good."

**8. Apricot**

She missed them all so much, missed them more than anyone could ever know. She tried, she tried so hard, to stay with them. Her little boys who were still so young, too young to be without both of their parents, especially their mother. She knew that she wasn't helping them, that she was seen to be abandoning them to just about everyone who knew anything about the situation. Except for maybe three people, three people who understood and didn't hold it against her, or at least tried not to hold it against her. They weren't any more perfect that she was, but at least they tried.

She looked down at the letter in her hand, the letter that was actually on paper. Paper that was scented with the delicate aroma of apricots. She closed her eyes and brought the paper up to her face and breathed in the scent, holding back tears the whole time. She remembered so much from her husband. So much that she would never truly be able to move on. It wouldn't matter how hard she tried, it was simply a matter of fact.

One didn't just move on from a Bond with a Senshi, even if the Line was dormant.

**9. Aqua Green**

Jim glared at everything and everyone around him. He didn't want to be here and he was pretty sure that no one wanted him here. He steadfastly ignored his keeper, she hadn't argued enough against not being sent here and so she was on _their_ side. She should be on _his_ side, she was his after all! She was supposed to do what was best for him at all times and right now that meant being on Earth, not some newbie colony that he didn't even care about! This colony was so young that they weren't even sure if there would be Someone for the planet. It was very unlikely that this planet had held a population of any kind of sentient being in the past as it had mostly been terra-formed by Starfleet. It would take a lot of effort for a Senshi to be born for this planet and it certainly wouldn't be any time soon.

He wasn't here for that, of course, but it was the only reason he could think of for why his current legal guardians were here. His father's sister wasn't a Senshi anymore than Jim's father had been. Their Line had been dormant for longer than any of them could remember, and that was a very long time even with the Line's lives reduced greatly by the dormancy of their abilities. His fraternal aunt was still probably one of the few that would be able to pick up on anything even with her abilities mostly unavailable and/or untrained. His mother's brother, Frank was unable to watch him for some reason that Jim hadn't really paid attention to at the moment. (Why yes when he threw a tantrum it was quite epic and he tended to ignore people no matter what. He'd find out why in an hour or so when he stopped sulking and left his new room. Maybe sooner if he decided to hack what internet access they had and found out for himself.)

Sam had, had to finish some kind of project for school and wouldn't be arriving for another few weeks, two at the most and one and half at the least. Sam's keeper was with him, not that most people would be able to pick up on it, but there was that. He idly wondered where his was and what she was doing. He knew that if he thought about it hard enough she would show up, but he wasn't up for that level of concentration right now. Mostly because he was still sulking and giving off 'stay the **** away from me' vibes. She wouldn't come any sooner unless he needed something and dinner wouldn't be for at least another half hour.

He glanced out his window and down at the small creek that was behind his aunt and uncle's house and listened to it trickle down their little sloping hill as a background music to the sounds coming from downstairs.

**10. Aqua Pearl**

Kirk wondered if there were any others like him out there. He knew, intellectually and realistically that there were, but he hadn't really met too many others. The few that he had, had been cut more than in half during his early teen years, a few of those connections would still twinge painfully now and then, as if he was still connected to them. The connections, if they were still there and not just a phantom pain were very strained and almost threadbare enough to snap. He hoped that they didn't get that bad for at least a decade or longer as the longer they held out the longer he had to actually function at his, well not best. It was kind of hard to function at your best when you were in a situation like his, but at least almost his best. Or close enough to not be noticeable by anyone anyway. He knew, realistically, that this was more than he should be asking for, but he was used to asking for the impossible. Sometimes it actually happened and if it didn't, then no one could say he didn't try.

He glanced around the bridge for a moment, taking in his crew. Though most of the alpha crew wasn't on duty right now Chekov was and Kirk watched as the youngest member of his crew worked through a few calculations for their navigation. The young man wasn't a boy, no matter what some back at Command would think or say. He hadn't been a boy since that first mission, but there was something else. Something that Kirk couldn't seem to get out of his mind, but at the same time he couldn't place what it was.

"Sir?"

Kirk's eyes snapped up and made contact with his Chief Communications Officer. Uhura was the only other member of the alpha crew that was currently on duty.

"Yes, Lieutenant."

"I've got an incoming message from Starfleet Command, Sir."

"Put it through to the main screen."

"Aye, Sir."

_"Captain Kirk."_

"Admiral Archer, what can we do for you?"

Kirk listened as he was given orders to meet up with a few of the Vulcan Science Academy ships that had managed to survive the destruction of their planet. The Vulcans had been working on finding a place where they would be able to live indefinitely. At the moment, the majority of them were staying on earth with a few scattered here and there on other Federation planets with deserts big enough for temporary settlement. They were meeting up with them in the Black rather than convening on earth for some reason that wasn't really inferred in their comm from Archer.

Once their shift was over, Kirk nodded to his officers and any other crewmembers he ran into on his way to his cabin. He was not surprised when he found an encrypted message waiting for him. What did surprise him was the title of the message: Aqua Pearl. He locked his door and left a message on his door alert to let anyone know that he was only to be disturbed for emergencies for the next hour.

**11. Aquamarine**

Comet watched the group behind her in slight curiosity; she wondered what it was they were up to. At the same time she wasn't sure she really wanted to know. These beings that she visited occasionally weren't the sanest, not by any stretch of the imagination, but she still didn't want to know just why they were all gathered around a giant reflecting pool. The reflections were split into several different scenes, none of them portraying the people actually watching them. At the same time, she'd been called here for a reason, separated from her other half and actually put into physical form once again. It was a little much to take in all at once, honestly. She hadn't had actual physical senses in…

"Ah, there you are!"

She turned away from her thoughts and towards the being in front of her, "Yes? What was it that you call me here for?"

The being in front of her pouted, "Now, now, is that any way to talk to someone who has given you such a gift as I have?"

She stared straight at him, not showing any emotion on her face.

"You're just as bad as those blasted Vulcans. They never let me have any fun…" the being pouted even harder, "Though Starfleet captains are the absolute worse. Don't be like them, darling, be fun and spontaneous like me!" The being held out his arms as if to hug Comet, who allowed the hug to continue. They were something like family after all.

"What did you need me for, Uncle?" She allowed a small smile to grace her features for a moment as the hug ended.

**12. Asparagus**

She used to glare down at the vegetable on her plate. She hated, absolutely _hated_ asparagus. There was nothing remotely interesting about the vegetable except for its strange ability to outlive everything else in a parent's mind about what was good for you. It even stayed when she'd been able to convince her parents that broccoli just had to go. She was never certain just how the dreaded asparagus managed to outlast even the most scientific of her arguments.

She quietly lifted her fork to her mouth and chewed the once hated vegetable. She had been without for long enough that she wouldn't turn away any kind of food as long as she was able to physically swallow it and keep it down. Starvation certainly changed many an outlook on food. Something that children shouldn't be put through was her main thought as she watched a few of her comrades eating formerly detested food next to her. She also looked around the room once again, still eating her food, and took note of the other people around them. There were adults all around them, mostly human though there were a few other species around.

She knew that there were other children aboard that weren't from her group, though there were only two or three of them, if that many. She had met one of them, a young man that seemed slightly stiff, though he was that stiff around everyone and not just her. She had also heard that there was a little girl, the first child on this ship, but she hadn't met her yet. The young man was interesting in that he seemed to have some kind of technology attached to his body in various places. He had been at the Sick Bay at the same time she had started waking up for some kind of check-up or she'd have never found out about it. She hadn't really seen him since then.

"I hope that you are all enjoying your food," the kindly cook asked us.

The humanoid wasn't like any of the races they'd known before coming onto this ship. He had come to visit them when they had each awoken on this ship and welcomed them to _Voyager_. He had worked with the oldest of their group to find quarters that would accommodate all of them, mostly keeping them together in the same set of quarters or at least next door to one another. He spoke with the captain of this vessel and assured her that he would work with other adults who would be in charge of checking up on them that they were in good hands. More than that, he talked with them and didn't dismiss any of their words without good cause. If he did have something against one of their choices, he would talk it over with them as if they were adults and not frightened children.

That isn't to say that he treated them all like that. There were those amongst their group that were nothing more than frightened children, and those were the ones that he was soft and caring with. She wondered often if he had, had any children of his own before. He was good with them and he had no problems with spending time with them. He had even told them about his own little goddaughter who was also on the ship, though she had come down with an illness that, while it wasn't life threatening for the girl who had it, wouldn't be safe to chance any of the new children catching it. He assured them that he would introduce them as soon as he could.

The children around her smiled shyly at the lion-like man. His food was filling, but not hard on their stomachs as she knew several of the adults that heard about their lunch menu had been worried about. As she looked up into his eyes she recognized a kindred soul that had lived off of nothing but what he could scrape together. He knew what kind of care they needed, but at the same time, he knew that they needed to be in charge of their own needs as far as they could. This man made them feel safe with not only his knowledge, but his choice to help them by letting them help themselves.

**13. Atomic Tangerine**

Comet stared at him with a dead look in her eyes, "You want me to what?"

"I don't think I need to repeat myself. You heard me perfectly, I know you did because your current form has excellent senses. I had Q look into it and she told me that she was going to do her best just for you because you were going to become her brand new sort of niece. She's the best at dealing with female humanoid bodies. Mostly because no one seems to appreciate my taste."

She continued to stare at him in silence, waiting for him to actually explain what it was he had asked her to do. He stared back at her, a smirk on his face that said he could wait just as long as she could and would most definitely do so just to irritate her. Probably to see what she would do, he'd done things like this before, though not necessarily with her. He was the curious type and always wanted to learn new things. He'd seen all that was and all that is and all that would be, but that didn't take some factors into the equation; mostly how people would react, as there was always the chance that they would do the opposite of what you thought they would or something else that hadn't even occurred to you.

They stood like that for quite a while, the exact timing not being important due to the fact that they were in a location that time didn't really affect unless its inhabitants wanted it to. Finally she let out a sigh and, with a raised eyebrow, conceded that he had won.

"Why do you want me to-?"

"Ah-ah-ah." The being in front of her sing-songed, "You already conceded that I won and that I didn't have to explain the whys."

She let out a huff of breath, "Fine then. _When_ do you want me to head out to do your super-secret-irritatingly-vague thing?" She was slightly gritting her teeth by the end of this. She hadn't wanted to be separated from her other half like this and really wanted to go back. It wasn't a pleasant experience to be like this, even if her current form was 'top notch.'

He grinned at her cheekily, "How's about now?"

There was a flash of light and she was gone.

**14. AuroMetal Saurus**

Samuel Kirk stared at the people around him in dawning horror. This couldn't be right, it just couldn't! There was no real way this could be possible. No, he was hallucinating! This whole rescue and new planet and ship and everything were really just one huge hallucination that he was having right before he died. Or maybe he really had been rescued, but the medicine they had him on was causing reality to warp to his senses. He's read about things happening like that. It would certainly explain things that weren't explainable otherwise.

"Do you understand?" one of his hallucinations asked. She shook his head and ignored anything they said after that. If you didn't listen to your hallucinations, then they would go away eventually, right? He hoped so.

There was no way he was going to accept the fact that he was over a hundred years into the future, on the opposite side of the galaxy from where he had started and that he was supposed to be dead along with all of his family. He was supposed to have died with a wife, a son and a daughter. His younger brother was supposed to be dead as well after already living to become old enough to be an admiral in Starfleet, something that Jimmy would never have done. Jimmy wasn't interested in joining Starfleet and even if he someday did, he would never have become an admiral by sheer force of will. Jimmy wasn't the kind of person to sit behind a desk and rot away giving order and writing up paperwork, he was the kind of person who would get down and dirty and work with people and things.

There was just no other explanation for all of this than that his mind was trying to come to terms with his impending death or that he was hopped up on some seriously good painkillers. He absolutely refused for anything else to be true.

**15. Aztec Gold**

She flipped the coin in her hand, never really looking at it as she continued to catch it and place it on the back of her hand. She'd then use the back of her hand to toss it back up and catch it with her fingers before repeating the process again and again. She wasn't really paying any attention to what she was doing, but her hands (or at least one of them) needed to be doing something or she was going to go crazy.

She hadn't wanted to do this, hadn't wanted to be sent out on this ridiculous errand, yet here she was doing it anyway. She wasn't even really sure what the errand _was_ and yet she was doing it. Sometimes, just sometimes mind you, her Uncle could be incredibly cryptic. She was well aware that to humans he was always cryptic, but to the rest of her family he was only rarely this vague. Probably because they didn't spend as much time around one another lately (for them anyway, time was a very relative thing). There were times when he was straightforward, though those hadn't happened any time in semi-recent memory. They hadn't exactly been close to one another before things had started happening in her life and they certainly weren't close now.

It's rather hard to be close to someone when you only saw them every couple of centuries. They usually only saw each other when there were check-ins on how the 'kids' were doing. She sort of oversaw their training after all; well, she and her other half. It was part of what allowed them to stay and watch over what little from their former lives they had left. She didn't wonder much about who was left out there and what they were doing; it had really been too long since she'd had any kind of contact outside of where she trained people for her Uncle.

"Why did I let myself get talked into this? I know that he's got some kind of 'master plan,' he always does. All I need to know is what it is that he expects me to do."

Working with the Nexus was a lot easier than working with other people after all.

**Author's Note:** This is a completed story that will be approximately 26 chapters. I just have to finish cutting the chunks up and getting them uploaded.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** Each chapter will be the prompts from the letters of the alphabet in order, mostly because I couldn't divide the number of prompts into down evenly enough without having it be ridiculous. (You try dividing 346 by any whole number other than 2 and 173, it just doesn't work otherwise.)

**16. B'dazzled Blue**

Some part of her wanted to know why this was happening. Why any of this was happening in general, but why this was happening to her in particular. She hadn't really expected everything that had started with her return to, well, herself. She had been a Borg drone longer than she had ever been anything else and hadn't wanted that to change. Change was scary, frightening, unwanted and dangerous. She hadn't wanted it for a very long time, had actively tried to stop it from happening and had, for the first time in her life, failed at something. Quite spectacularly as well.

She had never been more grateful for anything in her life and she probably never would.

These turn of events had been followed by learning to respect and even like the crew of the ship that had saved her and a return of such feelings. (Though not all of the crew grew to like her, they did at least appreciate having her abilities that saved them valuable time and connected them, however shortly, to their loved ones in the Alpha Quadrant.) She had also learned the pain of being a mother, though it was a short bittersweet moment. (She would never forget One, he was more a part of her than even her own implants it seemed at times.) She had also made friends with a young girl, probably her first true friend on Voyager that was nothing else first.

Naomi Wildman was a strange child, mostly because of her upbringing as the only child on a lost ship trying to get home. She cared deeply for all the people of her ship and in return, they treasured her very existence. It gave them something that precious little else would do; she gave them hope. She had been born in horrific conditions and then stranded on a planet with little to provide for her or her mother along with the rest of the crew. They had been saved by the two crew members that hadn't been left to die by the Kazon. A holographic doctor allowed sentience and a murder that was only just starting to find peace. No one was more devoted to Naomi Wildman than the crew aboard _Voyager_. She was one of the few saving graces for Seven of Nine in the eyes of most of the crew.

After all, the Borg treated children no differently than any other species, yet Seven of Nine treated Naomi Wildman better than anyone or anything else aboard the stranded starship. The crew could accept her for nothing else as she too had done everything to protect the child and expected nothing in return from them. They could at least respect that, it didn't make most of them like her any better, but it was a starting point. None of them would leave Seven to die any more.

One of the biggest changes that Seven of Nine had faced was the Borg children she had been instrumental in not only finding, but saving as well. They had found the homes of some of the youngest, but both the eldest and very youngest were still aboard the ship. Icheb continues his study and his time as a full-time member of the crew, working with Seven of Nine in Astrometrics. The youngest, still a baby, is kept in stasis, unable to really survive any other way at the moment. Seven wonders if they will ever really be able to help her and hopes that Starfleet Medical will have come further in their technological advancements than she last knew as a part of the Collective. She had already lost one Borg child to death because of Starfleet's lacking in technology compared to the Borgs'.

It is the new children that have joined the crew that pique her interest at the moment, though. They are both young and old, like she is, but not because of the same reason. They are frightened as she was when she first came aboard _Voyager_ as an individual. They don't know what to do or say to the crew. One of the eldest is deep in denial that anything has happened whilst another works as a go between for the group and the members of _Voyager_ that they interact with. The youngest ones take their cues from them. They are wary of the crew and hesitant to interact with them for anything other than to say thank you or to nod or shake their heads. The only members of the crew that they seem to feel safe around at the Doctor and Mr. Neelix, the former supposedly because he is a medical practitioner and the latter because he seems to be the best at working with the children. The only other members of the crew that they seem to even relax around are the Vulcan members of the crew, Commander Tuvok and Lieutenant Vorik, though they still won't really interact with them.

Seven suspects that part of the reason they are able to relax around the two Vulcans is because one of the elder members of their group is also a Vulcan, though a young female. She supports the other two eldest but seems to concern herself more with the children themselves rather than working with any of _Voyager's_ crew. She had not personally interacted with them much, but she knew that this probably wouldn't last long. The Captain wanted to help these children, but she also wanted them to be safe and find out if they were really who they seemed to be. The children didn't seem to trust the Captain and though they did trust a few of the crew to a degree, they also wouldn't really talk to them. Most of the crew had seen their condition and had tried to speak with them gently if at all. This had not helped them at all and they seemed to be at an impasse.

Seven had never balked at something she felt she needed to do in order to help the crew and these children were now a part of the crew, whether they realized it yet or not. They reminded her much of herself and she wanted them to adapt so that they too would start to heal and grow as she had. She looked at these children and tried to see them as the Captain and crew did, but found all she could see were individuals who didn't know where they were or what they were going to do.

**17. Baby Blue**

The being who is watching everything and nothing at the same time wonders at times if this is the best course of action. He has come a long way and has done many things, not all of them considered positive for the people receiving them. Many have called him whimsical and flighty, caring for nothing more than the entertainment that is provided to him from his meddlesome efforts.

This is not true. It might have been at one point, but that point is so far in the past that no one who isn't physically related to him in some way will even remember it, for the most part. It didn't really matter in the long scheme of things. Most of the time it didn't bother him that he was seen as nothing more than a super-powered child. _(He ignored those moments when it truly felt as if someone were striking him through the heart. He had feelings and emotions; he was just a lot older and had seen more things than people expected. You have to have some kind of emotional armor, strange sense of humor or combination of both in order to watch any person that you come to care about grow old and die again and again and again. No mind, no matter what species, could really take that and stay sane.)_

He knew that things were going to get really started soon, at least, soon for the people that he cared about. _(Or as much as he could care about anyone with a very finite number of years to live, anyway.)_ He had done the best he could in preparing people for what was to come and in letting them have some kind of warning. He was also well aware that there were many who would rail against him when or if they ever found out what his part in things had been. He couldn't do more than what he had done, even he had rules that he had to live by, they just weren't like any of the rules that his more mortal friends would ever understand. Even his little 'niece' didn't really understand and she had been around a lot longer than most of his compatriots.

"What do you think will happen now?"

He turned towards his son, probably the only other being that knew what was happening on the same level. Junior didn't look worried, just curious, but he knew his son. Junior was slightly worried about his friends, even if he would never admit it even to himself, much less his father. He didn't know what would happen and that was irking his son quite a bit. Junior was still getting used to the fact that he wasn't as omniscient as he would like to think he was.

"Anything could happen at this point. People, no matter what race they are, are very surprising in their reactions to these kinds of things."

"Did you know this would happen when you introduced them all those years ago?"

"I knew that something like this could happen, but there was always potential for other things to happen as well. You've seen time get rewritten enough to know that."

His son pouted, just slightly, yet enough to see. He didn't like feeling powerless any more now than he had the first time his father had taken most of his powers. His father smiled slightly back at him though it was more of a smirk.

"Don't worry they've come this far without failing. I have faith in them, you should as well."

**18. Baby Powder**

She's stayed home at first, wanting to spend time with what little she had left of her husband. She had quite a bit left after all. She not only had the house that they had gotten together when his grandfather had died (it had been in the family for generations, but it required a lot more than just two people who were going to be in space for quite a lot of time during the year) and she had her sons. Her precious little boys that both looked so much like their father. (Her brother tried to tell her how much they really looked like a blend of both of their parents, but she didn't want to listen. They were George's sons and so they would look more like him than her and that was the end of it.)

Her brother had come to stay with her to help her manage not only Sam but baby Jimmy as well. Frank wasn't the best with kids, but he could feed and burp and change diapers and make sure none of them got hurt while she slept. Sometimes, Frank's fiancé would come over and help out as well; she said that it was good practice for the future and then would share a glance with Frank. Winona would try to smile at them during those times, but she was well aware that most of the time it came out as a grimace. It didn't stop her from trying, though.

Winona Kirk wasn't the type of woman to give in, so she kept at it. Some days were better than others, but no day was every happy, not really truly happy. It's hard to be happy when you can actually feel the jagged edges left by the dull knife that had hacked away half of your soul. But she loved her sons and they were all she had left, so she tried. The therapists that she talked to on earth weren't really any help. They couldn't understand and she couldn't explain it to them, so they helped as much as they could before they discharged her when she was well enough to not stare at a wall for hours on end.

Sometimes, she thought about contacting her sister-in-law, but she could never really bring herself to do it. George's sister had been watching Sam for them while they were in space during their last mission until at least a year after the baby would be born. She had brought Sam back to Winona and Frank as soon as Winona had been discharged from the hospital upon her return to earth, but she hadn't been able to stay much longer than a few weeks. She was probably one of the few people that would ever understand or at least come close to understanding what Winona was going through. At the same time, Winona couldn't really bring herself to stay in physical proximity of the woman due to the woman's blood relation to her now dead husband. Her heart just couldn't take it; it was already hard enough just being around the children and they were her sons.

"Someday, Jimmy," Winona whispered to her son as he lay in her arms trying to fall asleep, "Someday you will meet someone and you will know what it is to lose them. I pray for your sake as well as hers that you do not stay parted for long."

She rocked the now sleeping infant in her arms sitting in the rocking chair that George's grandmother had sat in to rock him to sleep. It wasn't that she wanted her son to die soon after his Bonded's death, but she better than anyone knew the madness that courted the edges of the lingering Bonded's mind. If she hadn't had children and a strong will of her own, then it was very likely that she would have become nothing more than a rabid animal that needed to be put down. For her safety as well as everyone else's'.

**19. Baby's Blanket**

They didn't have much of anything left after their journey, just what little they had, had on them during their latest escape attempt. They had practiced and researched as best they could about this form of escape, not really having much more than personal theories and what few well-read children or teens amongst their number. The real reason they'd tried this method of escape was because it was the only one they had left. All attempts to send a transmission to Starfleet or anyone really, hadn't worked. They'd been blocked and then the area they'd been in whilst sending the transmission had almost instantly been crawling with Kodos' men. Needless to say, they'd stopped trying to get transmissions through shortly after that, and when they did, it was certainly far, far away from where they had hidden the younger children.

They did have two amongst their number who might be able to get them out of there, but it was risky, very risky. Two sisters who were both there and not there at the same time and who didn't take that much from their supplies to keep running, as long as they had some time to sit in the sunlight or in the starlight. Cloudy days were hard on these two sisters who didn't seem to need as much food as the other children, but sometimes needed more sleep. Their group was mostly human children with a sprinkling of other species mixed in with them, but these two sisters looked and acted human, yet were almost as alien as the lone Vulcan who was with them.

They had come to Tarsus IV separately, assigned as a sort of keeper to two brothers who had several years between them and yet seemed to work relatively well together. The brothers' dynamics were slightly different, as the younger was the more aggressive of the two. The sisters were never physically far from their respective brother that they seemed to be assigned to on some level that wasn't visual or really understood by the rest of the group. The biggest difference between the sisters, other than their proximity to one of the brothers, was their hair color and demeanor. One was calmer than the other with short red-ish blonde hair. The other was much more lively and had slightly longer pale blonde hair.

It was the red-headed sister that had suggested they try a more primitive form of transportation. It was considered primitive only to those who knew the finer details of the transporters that Starfleet and several other Alpha Quadrant space faring species used. They would gather the children in a tight circle with the two sisters, the two brothers and the one Vulcan around them, arms outstretched and hands linked. The sisters would then gather their own energy, different and more solid than the others' and spiral it around the group, twining it tighter and tighter until they had formed a spherical ball of energy around the small group. It would be up to the other three, the brothers and the Vulcan, to direct their path towards where they wanted to go. The sisters would be too busy gathering and molding their energy in order to direct their course.

Such an undertaking might have been more difficult if it weren't for the close bonds between the sisters and the two brothers. The Vulcan's bonds with the two pairs would normally not be as strong had it not been for her own reasons for being on the colony. She too had been sent to study with the brothers' aunt on the possibility of there being a new Guardian or Senshi for this new planet. Though she did not know any of the other children half so well as the others, she was of a same kind as the brothers and so was able to work in tandem with them well enough for their attempt at transport to work.

No one would ever truly know if the attempt might have been successful or not. They never got the chance to complete the molding of the energy before they were found by Kodos' men.

**20. Ball Blue**

Kirk had a small blue ball in his hands that he had been passing from one hand to the other in an attempt to keep his attention occupied with _something_ now that he had finished going through the reports for the day. Yeoman Rand had already been by to gather up the PADDs now that he was done with them. He had checked in with all of the major department heads on his ship and everything was running smoothly. They were on their way to meet up with the two ships they'd been sent to rendezvous with: a Vulcan Science Academy research vessel and a slightly larger Federation ship that held a few key people that needed to be ferried from one end of the Quadrant to another. They had already been traveling for quite a while before they'd been close enough to send a message requesting further aid in traveling. That they'd made it thus far with just their small crew of 15 before meeting up with the Vulcan research vessel spoke of a certain kind of determination that Kirk's crew wasn't unfamiliar with.

They were about three hours away from their meeting and Kirk was bored. He had absolutely nothing to do and nothing to fiddle around with other than the little rubber ball that McCoy had allowed him to carry out of his office during the captain's last physical. Kirk made sure to check in periodically with different stations from his chair, too bored to even really wander around the bridge like he normally would. He felt unsettled for some strange reason that he couldn't pinpoint. Like something was going to start and he needed to be ready for it, whatever it was. He didn't like not knowing what was going on and it showed in his seated restlessness.

"Sir, I'm receiving a distress signal."

"Put it through the main viewer, Uhura."

"Aye, sir."

_"Re…in need o…Our warpdr…All bu…crew…Repeat…"_

"Is there any way to clean that up a bit more, Lieutenant?"

"I'm trying sir, but there seems to be some kind of strange interference that I haven't seen before."

"Keep at it."

"Yes, sir."

"Do we have their coordinates?"

There was a beat of silence before anyone spoke up, "Sir, they're not that far from where our rendezvous is."

Kirk's eyes snapped from Uhura to Sulu, "Lieutenant Sulu, maximum warp."

"Aye, sir!"

"Uhura, anything from the two ships we're heading towards?"

Uhura's fingers moved swiftly and efficiently over her station, "There seems to have been an acknowledgement from the Vulcan ship before both the Federation and Vulcan ships lost their warp drives along with the interference that's jumbling our distress call. They don't seem to be having any other problems, but can't contact or get anything from the ship in distress. They can't even seem to get a visual of the ship in question. They aren't able to find the reason why, sir."

"Well, isn't this just lovely," Kirk murmured to himself, that sense of waiting that he'd had for the majority of this shift spiking momentarily before fading away.

**21. Ball Green**

Naomi Wildman was bored, bored and sick and really wanting to meet the new kids on the ship. She would be cleared from being kept apart from them and confined to her quarters soon enough, she just had another few hours before she was no longer contagious and would be officially over it anyway, but that didn't stop her from being bored at the moment. She wouldn't have been kept away from them like this if they had been slightly healthier when _Voyager_ had found them, but that wasn't really their fault and it wasn't something she could hold against them. In fact, it was really her own fault for getting sick in the first place.

Her door beeped, requesting entry. She sighed to herself, long and put-out, before letting whoever was at the door in. It was probably the Doctor coming for her final check-up; if she was lucky, he would release her early and she'd be able to meet the new kids in the Mess Hall for dinner. She was, therefore, slightly surprised when her best friend walked into the room, back straight and tall.

"Naomi Wildman, I would like to request an update on your physical status."

"Seven! I didn't think you'd come over while I was sick. If I'd known, I'd have set up the kadis-kot board."

Seven walked closer to the still ill child and raised her cortical implant, "That is not necessary, though it is appreciated. I came to inquire after your health."

"Oh, I'm doing better, I should be released from my quarters as soon as the Doctor comes to see me at some point today. I'm just so bored!"

Sever took a seat next to the irritable child and brought her hands from around her back revealing a small green ball in one hand. She offered it to the child, "According to my research, it is customary to bring a present to a friend that is temporarily debilitated."

Naomi smiled at her friend before taking the gift, "Thanks, though I'm not really sure why you didn't bring a book. I would think that a PADD with information would be more your style of gift."

Seven inclined her head, "I had originally intended to bring such a thing, but the Doctor encouraged me to bring something more frivolous. I do have a PADD with a collection of the next few star charts and the planets within them that I will bring to you later today."

Naomi grinned, "Thanks. I do appreciate the 'frivolous' gift, but I also look forward to the PADD. Maybe I can share some of the stuff you've taught me with the new kids. Have you met them?"

"I have not, though Icheb did mention that he saw them when he reported for his weekly maintenance with the Doctor earlier this week. He stated that most of them were still too physically debilitated to do much more than consume nutrients and rest. A few of them, mostly the Vulcan and the elder Human male, have requested information on their families."

"Any idea who they are?"

"I am afraid that I cannot share such information with you at this time, Naomi Wildman."

The little girl sighed heavily before nodding at her more adult friend, "I suppose a lot of it's going to be 'classified,' isn't it?"

"Indeed."

"I'll have to ask them myself when I get the chance to meet them then."

"Perhaps you can welcome them officially to the ship tomorrow. I'm sure that Mr. Neelix wouldn't be against allowing you to accompany him when he gets their nutrients for the day ready."

**22. Banana**

Out of all the things she'd ever eaten since becoming a member of this crew, bananas had always remained one of the things she liked the least. If she had a personal preference for food, that is. She would eat them if they were presented to her, just as she knew that the others in their group would eat anything given to them, provided they weren't allergic to the food or drink in question. As it was, whenever she received a banana as part of her food allotment for the meal she was sitting for, she would carefully divide it up into smaller pieces and then give it to the children in her care. They required the substance far more than she did and would appreciate the treat at the same time.

None of them were really well enough to eat food that would have more sugar or seasoning to it, but they were allowed a few very bland treats now and then, such as now. The younger children liked to eat the fruit and they eagerly accepted the small pieces and consumed the, with satisfaction. She did not smile at them but her eyes did brighten in pleasure at seeing those under her care properly eating and enjoying their meal at the same time. She had not had many of these moments before they had been rescued by _Voyager_. She would be forever grateful to the crew aboard this ship and she did not feel any shame or disinclination to repress such emotions, despite the teachings of her people.

"Do you want some?" one of the youngest asked. She held up a half-eaten piece of fruit.

Saavil did not smile, though she did open her mouth and lean down so the child could push the piece into her mouth. She slowly chewed and swallowed before thanking the you girl. She smiled up at the Vulcan teen before turning back to her own meal.

**23. Banana Mania**

_"Why did you name her Saavil? Was that after Saavik?"_

_"No, it's actually after a character from a Mercedes Lackey book."_

She'd overheard one of her parents talking about her name once when she was small. They hadn't really argued (Vulcans didn't argue and if they did, they wouldn't tell you about it.) She had returned home from the Vulcan equivalent of elementary school and her mother had been speaking with one of her friends over a comm. She hadn't meant to eavesdrop, but she had anyway. She was curious and she wasn't yet old enough to start controlling her emotions just yet. She had grabbed the Vulcan equivalent of a banana and taken it with her to her room after listening. She hadn't really liked the fruit, but she hadn't been feeling well the last few hours and figured it would help as the thought of anything else made her stomach slightly queasy.

She hadn't really thought about it in a while, not until she'd awaken from a healing coma on a Federation Starship in the middle of the Delta Quadrant and she'd once again overheard two people wondering about her name. She hadn't really involved herself in either conversation and she didn't allow it to take up too much of her thought processes. When she recovered enough to sit up and hold something, she requested a copy of the books in question to occupy her time while she waited for the other children to awaken. She read through them slowly, taking notes on which ones she would start reading to the children once they did wake up.

**24. Beaver**

It was one of the things she missed the most while she was looking for help. She didn't have time to stop and just look at the world around her. She'd had enough time for that when she was still just a child, back before she'd found her purpose. She'd even had the time to look at most of the interesting flora and fauna of the Alpha Quadrant, or at least most of it, once the Line she was charged with guarding became more than just sea faring, they became space faring as well.

She knew that she could probably stop and take a look at one planet or another. There was time, she wasn't exactly out of options yet, but she couldn't. She couldn't stop to smell the roses because there was just too much at stake here. If she allowed herself to get distracted there was no guarantee that she would be able to get herself back on track. She was alone here, so very alone, in a way that she hadn't been alone before. Even when her sister had been trying to piece what was left of her mind back together (that was so long ago, so very long ago that it was nothing more than space dust on the far side of the galaxy) she had been able to feel her. Now, there was nothing in the back of her head but a strong line of string pulled taut enough that she still worried about it snapping at the wrong moment.

She would look down at the gold thread that was still tied to her finger. It, too, was taut enough that with every movement she feared it would give in and snap. She thanked Haven every time she stopped to look at it, making sure it was still there. She knew intellectually that she would feel the snapping of either thread before they severed completely, but she had spent such a long time around humans that she couldn't stop the nervous habit of checking things visibly. She didn't want to stop those habits, they were all she really had right now.

That and her mission. She had been able to communicate with several life forms that were able to move between 'normal' space and wherever they actually came from. She couldn't remember what they called themselves, but they had been willing to help her look for someone who could actually help her. They had suggested a few different peoples, but she couldn't bring herself to trust those they had suggested. They didn't take this personally for the most part, they were able to read things from her that she still wasn't sure about. She didn't hold their ability against them as they had seemed just as surprised by it as she was.

Apparently they hadn't met many of her kind and the ability was more a hit or miss thing with the ones they had met. She hadn't run into any of her kind that weren't dormant. She didn't wake them.

"I have to find someone. They said that there was a ship here that might help, but where do I find them?" she muttered to herself.

**25. Big Dip O' Ruby **

Life came at you fast, that was all she could think as she felt the severing of her connection tear sharply at her mind.

She wasn't at home, not really, she was never truly at home when she was without several of the members of her family. It had been so long since she'd had a family, so very long. Decades where she'd just existed beside her sister after it was all over. They had found their princess, their purpose in life, but the future that so many had seen hadn't happened. She didn't stop much to think about that, she had a job to do, a job that was more her life than anything else. Her princess had grown up and met someone, a good man whose name her guardians have long since forgotten. (There have been too many names and faces and time seems to go faster and _faster_ now that they've found their purpose and lost it at the same time.) Her princess had a family and grew old and had grandchildren.

Her princess, her purpose for those long lonely centuries with no one but her sister at her side, dies.

She attends the funeral, she couldn't do anything less, but a part of her disappears that sunny autumn day. She doesn't have to glance at her sister to know she feels the same. They are surrounded by their princess's family and friends, people that they know and have been friends with just as long, but they are alone in their grief. They would never try to downplay anyone's feelings on everything, but how many people waited their entire lives for someone? How many people's entire lives was closer to the planet's lifespan than anything else?

Their princess, their purpose, was gone and she wouldn't be coming back.

**26. Big Foot Feet**

Jimmy loved to read. He loved to learn and know things that other people didn't know. He was good at keeping secrets, he had to be. Otherwise bad people would come and take away his very bestest friend in the whole wide world. He was still very young, but he knew that his friend knew everything there was to know about the world. She told the best stories and she was always willing to answer his questions to the best of her ability. She was the best storyteller in the world, he was sure of it.

Jimmy knew that he wasn't the only one to have someone watching out for him. His big brother Sam had someone too, but she always seemed slightly distracted whilst Jimmy's someone was always giving him the best of her attention. Sam didn't take offense to this as he was often distracted by one thing or another as well. It had something to do with his 'studies' that he was always talking about. Jimmy knew that Sam was studying to become someone who could help people, though he was never sure just how Sam was planning on helping people or what he was going to do. He just knew that Sam was smart and that Jimmy wanted to be smart like him.

Uncle Frank was an okay guy, but he could have been better. Jimmy knew that his uncle had a lot to deal with, the farm and his sister and his nephews. He also knew that he, Jimmy, was one of the hardest things to deal with. Jimmy had horrible allergies to just about everything and he couldn't even take the medicine that other people would take as it made some things better and then everything else worse. Uncle Frank was good to his nephews, even if he didn't always feel like he was. Jimmy was a little boy who was curious and wanted to know how people would react to certain things and so he was more obnoxious than he probably needed to be because of it. Sometimes, though, when he was feeling guilty, he would do something nice for his uncle and then wouldn't admit that he had done so.

His best friend, though, she was always game for whatever it was he wanted, provided it didn't put him in mortal danger. She was kind of a stick in the mud about that and wouldn't let him climb on top of the roof anymore. You almost slip off in the middle of winter once and they never let you forget it.

**27. Bittersweet**

She hadn't thought she'd be sent on a mission quite like this one, though, granted, she hadn't really had too many parameters for how this mission was going to go in the first place. She was just going to check up on a few things in the Alpha Quadrant for her uncle. (She was also fully aware that he had ulterior motives for sending her to one of the few places she least wanted to go.) All she had to do was show up, look over a couple of planetary systems, record her findings and send them to her uncle and then she was free to go back to the Nexus. She was already feeling a little homesick for that ribbon of light wandering around space.

What she hadn't expected was to come across a signal from the Delta Quadrant being sent to the Alpha Quadrant, specifically to Earth. She hadn't been to that planet in a long, long time. She wasn't even sure how long a time, but long enough to be surprised that they had any kind of constant communication with the complete opposite side of the Milky Way. There hadn't been that kind of connection since long before Earth was aware as a whole that they weren't alone in the universe. She's even more surprised by the cooperation amongst people that, last she knew, were trying to cheerfully rip one another's throats out. It really has been too long since she's had actual interaction with people outside of the ones picked up by the Nexus.

She hadn't expected to get involved in it either.

"Who are you and what are you doing in this room?"

She ignored the question and all of the following ones as she continued to stare at the screen in front of her in disbelief. She continues to see the words across the screen long after she's been dragged out by security and placed in a cell. She continues to see those names after her first interrogator comes into the cell block and asks her questions without any kind of stimuli. Later she'll think that if they'd introduced some kind of physical stimuli, she'd have snapped out of her daze a lot sooner. She would have forgiven them as she understood just what it took to protect something much larger than yourself and also larger than a single planet.

None of this will remove from her mind the names of people that she hasn't thought about in what, to her, is more than a thousand years. After all, time in the Nexus is all relative and George Samuel Kirk Jr. has been long since dead.

**28. Bittersweet Shimmer**

They're not really sure what to do with her. Their scans don't pick up on much, just photons and electrons and chroniton particles. It's like she's not much more than light and shadows and time mixed into one. Eventually, they pick up on the particles that make up your typical comet or asteroid somewhere in her blood stream even though she still reads as a somewhat human life form. It's very confusing to most of the people aware of her capture and existence in the brig. They don't have any current record of who or even what she is, for the most part.

All of that changes when someone they haven't called for happens to come by to see what is going on in their neck of the woods.

She isn't sure what it is about the person in front of her that shakes her out of her daze at reading that name, but when she looks up, he's still standing there. It's been so long since she's even thought about one of the people who were close to the last of her charges. She hadn't been around her last charge that much when he was with these people. She'd had another charge to be with, but her last charge's son had still not been the last or even the next as he should have been. She doesn't think about that right now, though. What she's thinking about is how on Earth this person is in front of her.

She hadn't even seen his image in the Nexus in a while, though that's more because she doesn't spend all of her time with what's left of her charge in that energy ribbon. He is older than the last image of him she saw, he isn't even really standing. He's sitting in a chair and looking across the force field into her eyes as she comes back to reality.

"Dr. McCoy."

**29. Black**

Everything is so dark here even though she can see the stars and their accompanying planets so clearly as she travels, looking for help and never quite finding what she's looking for. She's still looking for that ship that she heard about, the one that stopped its sister because she was hurting life forms that were innocent. She needed to find that ship and that crew and do anything they needed or wanted just so that they would look at her family, what was left of it, and save them too.

She's getting closer that is the only thing she knows in this endless darkness that is not really pinpricks of light and little planets zooming by her. She is hearing the planets talk of the strange ship that they have heard of and only some of them have met. She hears the talk of a crew that is devoted to one another so much that they will go into the heart of their deepest mortal enemy for one of their own. She hears tale of a people that are and aren't one as they fight and argue and live and breathe all at the same time. She hears tales of how they are respected and hated and loved and admired and feared and all other kinds of things as others before them have been and others after them will be.

It's dark and it's cold here not because she is in space or even because she is traveling at a speed that is and isn't faster than light can travel. It's dark and it's cold because she can see the light from the stars that she would feel in the back of her mind always.

Yet she feels nothing from their cold light. Not even a blip of energy pulsing at the back of her mind and soul. She is more alone now than she has ever been before.

**30. Black Coral Pearl**

It's been a long time since anyone has seen or felt that reaction. The last of the active Guardians was lost so long ago and all that remains are the dormant. Very few of the dormant are even aware of what they are and amongst those few are an even smaller number of people that know what they are and know someone else like them. The connections that used to span across solar systems and from one galaxy to another were now nothing more than a few points that were barely even aware of the others' existence.

That number had been cut more than in half after the events of Tarsus IV, though no one outside of those who knew about the people who had been there even knew it. Jim was alone once more as there wasn't really anyone left who knew. Well, that wasn't entirely accurate, but he really only had one or two people who really knew about it and a handful of others who had some kind of inkling. Those handful were all on a different planet than he was, but he went to them as soon as he could, taking the only member of his family that he had a strong connection to with him.

Vulcan was beautiful, its sunset absolutely breathtaking and the quiet and calm of the monastery at Gol soothed as much of his soul as it could. He still felt the jagged edges of where his connection to his aunt had been and the barely there pull of the thread that connected him to his brother and his own guardian. The strongest of the threads in his mind was the one to his brother's guardian and she wasn't really in any kind of mental state to help him out. He needed the help of people who were telepathic to some degree or other and the only ones he really trusted with his family were the Vulcan Masters of Gol.

Maybe they'd be able to help him trace the links he had to those who were missing, but still alive. One of the missing people was one of their own after all and Vulcans were very protective of their own people, especially those who were young.

**31. Black Shadows**

He was old, he knew it and so did everyone else. Most of his friends were gone, though there were still a few out there in the Quadrant kicking around doing something. His family is all but gone as well, his little girl having long since grown up and married. She had found a nice young man, one that he had grudgingly approved of (and had his friends help him threaten). They had only had one child, a girl who had also grown up and married a nice young man. (His son-in-law had actually helped with the talk that young man had been given and took the time afterwards to thank his father-in-law for his own talk. Amazing what a little thing called perspective can do for a man.) She had given birth to two beautiful children before dying giving birth to her third child who was stillborn. Medicine can come as far as the human mind can imagine it and then some, but there will always be things that no doctor no matter how brilliant can stop. Death is just as final now as it was all those years ago when doctors had been using leeches to help their patients.

His daughter takes her own daughter's death hard and never really recovers from it. She is alone, her husband having passed on shortly after their daughter married and had her first child. It was a natural death that no one really knew what caused it. She gives up on living and dies quietly with him by her bedside and her grandchildren gathered around her, still too young to understand what happened. His grandson-in-law doesn't look at him with pity but with understanding and doesn't hesitate to ask for help when he needs it. He had been the youngest in a family of five. They had all been in Starfleet and died from one thing or another, even his parents. He knows what it is to lose your family and cherishes his children as much as possible without stunting their own growth.

Leonard thinks that this young man is probably one of the smartest people he's ever known and respects him for it. He also makes sure doors are open for him when they need to be, he's a family man after all as well as a career man.

He watches his great-grandchildren grow up and start to live their lives. He also watches as a new generation of Starfleet officers, men and women, enter the black aboard a brand new _Enterprise_. He even gets the opportunity to come aboard before they chip out and see the new lady that is replacing the ones he's seen off dozens of times. He even meets the person they've got to replace the hobgoblin (who is off somewhere, probably getting himself into more trouble than it's worth to track him down. Spock was just as capable of finding ridiculous amounts of trouble as Jim had been; probably part of why they were able to work so well together. Idiots.)

(He missed his friends, missed his crew and he missed his family, but no one would ever drag that out of him. He'd spent to long as a stubborn cuss to change now that he was an old man.)

He had been called, slightly out of the blue; he was retired after all, to come down to Starfleet Headquarters to look at something. He'd come and looked at whatever it was they wanted him to look at (something in Medical) and then he'd randomly wandered around the rest of the buildings to see if there was anything interesting going on that he might want to know about. That's how he finds out about _her_.

Leonard McCoy had lost most of his friends and just about all of his family to time and death and noble actions. He never expected to find someone who reminded him too much of people that were long since gone. He certainly never expected to get pulled into something like saving the world, again, at his age.

He was really getting too old for this.

**32. Blast Off Bronze**

It took everything he had to keep his head straight after that planet imploded. If he hadn't had experience with dealing with the sudden slack of a mental thread going from taut to floating free in the wind, he'd have been in more trouble than he was before. He doesn't even take the time to flinch as the last of his family is gone, ripped apart by the force of a black hole. He hasn't been this alone and yet this surrounded by people in longer than he cares to remember.

He doesn't let it stop him from doing what is right, from doing everything possible to stop this from happening to someone else.

He's seen more than one world destroyed at this point by a madman who thinks that his own pain and his needs are more important than thousands of others. He will not allow one more planet to be added to this list.

If he has to do things that make him hate himself all the more, then so be it. Just as long as no one else will feel what he has had the dubious pleasure of experiencing multiple times.

**33. Blazing Bonfire**

Comet isn't sure why she is doing this.

No, scratch that. She knows why, she just doesn't want to admit it. She likes to hide when she's hurt and confused. She's only been doing so for the last century or so, maybe longer, time is so relative for her now, even more so than it was when she was younger and could and would shake off more than a thousand years just watching as a civilization grew and then collapsed.

She's doing something that she hasn't really done since her purpose died all those years ago.

She's going into battle against someone that she's not sure she's going to defeat, but she's doing so because every other option is too much like giving up and letting them take _everything_ and she's not about to let that happen. She couldn't defeat death and time and everything that came with those two and maybe she can't defeat these beings that have decided that this world, this people, this Galaxy are theirs to play with as long as they want. But she can sure make them have to work for it. She's not going to send herself back into retirement just because the people she has to work with are echoes of those she had loved and lost.

She's going to make the Borg fight for every square inch of territory they take and she's going to make them pay for it with more than just their life's blood.

**34. Blizzard Blue**

When he looks up and sees the walls of ice all around him, he knows that he's lost.

He hasn't felt like this in a long time, longer than he's been alive he likes to think.

He just sits there and looks up from the little pod he's in for what feels like an eternity (and he knows what that feels like, you can't be mentally linked to someone that's been around since the galaxy you're a part of started molding itself out of dust and energy and not know what an eternity feels like. Just saying.) but what is probably only a few minutes, if that. He snaps out of his little funk quickly enough after that and starts climbing. He's not going to take this lying down and if he has to go all down and dirty then by all means. He's not given up before and he doesn't mean to change when he's got a good thing going.

It's not until he falls down a lovely little ice cliff being chased by something that he'd rather not think about that he really starts to think that he's done for. Even he'd have a hard time coming out on top with the kind of echoing he's got going on in his head. It's really messing with his thinking now that the only things around him are cold, white and slightly murderous red giant crab-monster things (and whatever that other thing was too.) He still doesn't want to give up, but it's important to know when you're beaten.

That's why he's so surprised by someone turning up at the last possible moment (well, maybe not quite the last possible moment. He isn't been chewed on just yet) and saves the day. He's even more surprised when it turns out that his savior is also the guy that got him stranded on this frozen rock.

Apparently they're also something like super friends in another universe. He doesn't believe the crazy Vulcan until their minds are joined for what feels even more like an eternity (and an eternity of pain that he's only ever gotten a slight glimpse of from his keeper, she had too much control to let him touch that. She didn't want him to lose himself in her mind after all.) He hasn't had someone touch his mind like this on purpose in several years, but he knows that this touch is different. For one thing, it's mostly one-way and more of an information dump in the form of intense Cliff notes than anything else. He's pretty sure that Old Spock hasn't picked up on Jim's mental stability (or the lack thereof) in the face of the old man's less than stable grounds.

He doesn't say anything about it. Now that he's got a better chance at stopping the crazy Romulan from destroying anymore lives, he's going to grab it with both hands and hang on until there's no problem left to worry about.

Once that's done, then he will worry about picking up the pieces that have fallen around him like a fallen angel's shattered innocence.

**35. Blue**

Everything was going to fall apart, she just knew it.

Somewhere out there was a ship, a ship full of people that could help her. With every story of them that she found, she knew that they not only could help her, but that they would and they would do it even if they gained nothing in return. She needed that, she needed someone who would help her and not want anything from it because that was the only way she could actually bring herself to trust another with something so important as what remained of her family. She had to reach that ship and she wouldn't stop or rest or even think until she found them.

She followed every rumor of their being somewhere, looked into nebulae that she hadn't remembered the existence of in centuries and watched for the shadow of the port nacelles to show up in the black of space. She hadn't looked so hard for something since she had first noticed the little gold string tied to her finger and tried to follow it to its originator. She had found that person, her original purpose, but that had taken most of her life. She prayed that this wouldn't take as long. She didn't have that kind of time anymore.

She wondered that if she found them in the next five minutes, if she would still have the time to get them to her family in time to save them.

She wasn't so sure anymore and that more than anything else, scared her.

**36. Blueberry**

Out of all the things she had seen, she never wanted to see this again.

She had taken part in the assimilation of thousands of people, seen whole worlds destroyed in the Borg's need to take and take and take. They needed to be perfect, but perfection was impossible no matter how hard you tried for it. She knew that now even if she would never admit to it. Yes, she had seen perfection when the Omega Molecule had stabilized randomly, but she also knew that the chances of that happening to a sentient being, finding perfection in themselves, was a chance of 0.0000000000000001%. And that was being optimistic, something that had been leaking into her calculations not long after _Voyager_ and her crew had successfully rescued her from the Borg Queen once again (the last time, she wasn't going to put them through that ever again, not if she could help it.)

She still didn't care as much about people outside of the _Voyager_ crew and her actions were consistent in that regard. What she was feeling now, though, that surprised her and she wasn't entirely sure why. When she looked at the children, and they were just as much children as the last Borg drones that _Voyager_ had found and taken aboard, she felt distinctly unwell. She wanted to help them like she hadn't wanted to help others that her actions hadn't affected before. The Captain would likely say that she had taken another step in the direction of accepting her humanity, but it seemed to be more than that.

It was like there was something within her that recognized these individuals on a level that was lower than even the subconscious. Recognized and welcomed.

**37. Blue Bell**

She finally found them, found the people who were going to save what was left of her life.

She found them on a planet, surrounded by blue bells. She was a little surprised before she realized that she wasn't actually on a planet, but in a holodeck, probably on the ship that she had been looking for. She wasn't entirely certain just how she had gotten onto the ship without actually seeing the ship, but she suspected it had something to do with her spending the last few weeks not sleeping and just traveling. Looking was all well and good, but it won't really help you if you're too tired to realize you've found what you were looking for.

Still, she had found the ship, and some of the crew and that was good enough in her book.

Now she just had to figure out how to talk to them.

**38. Blue Gray**

His eyes hadn't been the same; she had been the first to tell him that. It had taken her a while to be able to look at him and actually realize that, let alone remember to tell him when she saw him, but she did eventually tell him. It had been one of the moments when he realized that he would need to leave her at the monastery at Gol for longer than it would take him to be finished with his recovery. He wasn't looking forward to that.

He had looked back into her eyes and realized that they were looking right through him even though she had gotten the change in his eye color correctly. She wasn't going to be getting better any time soon, if she ever really got better at all. He had spoken with the masters at Gol and they weren't exactly reassuring, but at the same time they seemed more optimistic than he would have been. Probably because he knew if he looked into her mind and tried to help patch her up, he would just make everything worse. He was still only a teenager and he had his own mental landscape to worry about at the moment.

Remove the beam in thy own eye first and all that.

He was absolutely useless for anything other than emotional support right now and that wasn't going to get through to her very well when it took her over a month to realize that his eye color wasn't as clear as it used to be.

He trusted the masters though, if nothing else, they should be able to help her. At least he hoped so.

**39. Blue Green**

Seven turned her eyes to the side once again and cocked her cortical implant. She was certain that she had seen someone moving in the periphery of her vision, but she still wasn't able to pinpoint it. She hadn't mentioned it to anyone just yet as every time she opened her mouth to do so, she would see the flash of color again. She didn't want to tip anyone who shouldn't be there off just yet. They'd had enough of those the last time someone had come aboard and started using the crew as their science experiments.

She used what scanning equipment she had available that wouldn't tip off whoever was watching (hopefully) before she was able to get any kind of readings. They reminded her slightly of the readings they had on the photon based life forms that had somehow entered the ship through one of Lieutenant Paris's Captain Proton holonovels. They weren't exactly the same, but they were close. She narrowed her eyes as her scan from Astrometrics lab (she was very grateful that Ensign Kim had helped her install a few ship sensors that would pick-up on intruders that were trying to mask their presence on _Voyager_. Out of everyone on board, she had the best chance of catching someone, other than the Doctor; he'd caught them the first time and used her help to expose them. She was slightly concerned that he hadn't seemed to notice this time.

She tracked the individual as they seemed to appear and disappear from completely random places all over the ship. It was almost as if the being was trying to get somewhere, but couldn't pinpoint where that place was. As far as Seven could calculate, it also looked as if the individual wasn't using any of the ship's technology or sensors to move around. Meaning that this person either didn't know how to use Starfleet technology or had something to use instead. Her eyes narrowed once more and she took the time to send a message to the captain as well as Commander Tuvok, heavily encrypted of course.

The individual was making steady progress towards both the bridge and Sick Bay. Almost as if it was being drawn to both places by a magnet and couldn't decide which one to enter.

**40. Blue Jeans**

It had been months, years even, and she wasn't getting better. She stared through people more and more lately rather than actually at them. She was actually more in tune with the world around her at the beginning of her stay at the monastery. Jim knew that it wasn't the Vulcans' fault; she was just losing interest in things. He'd gotten himself stable enough to finally connect mentally with her. She was a mess and because she wasn't interested in healing or even slightly fixing the mess it was getting worse. Kind of like what happens when you don't clean a room for something like several months and then ignore the problem while still trying to use it.

She was getting worse because she refused to get better and nothing he did or said would change her mind. She's given up on ever seeing them again and even he's not enough to make her change her mind. After all, he never really needed someone to look after him, not after what they had gone through. She knew that, she knew that before he did and he could see that just as clearly as he could see that she was trying something that he hadn't even thought about.

She was shielding him from how badly strained their connections to his brother and her sister really were.

**41. Blue Violet**

It was the Vulcan female that really started reaching out for help first. Something that slightly surprised most of the crew and yet didn't surprise Commander Tuvok or even Seven of Nine at all. In fact, they were only surprised that she had waited as long as she did before asking for help. He had turned to Tuvok first, asking for his help with nothing more than her eyes, knowing that, somehow, he understood what she was asking for.

She was right to take such a risk, because his reactions were what calmed her down, almost as if he were her father or older brother. She felt safe around him because her soul reached out and his answered even if he wasn't aware of it happening. She wasn't really sure if he knew about it or not. He probably did, he looked (and felt) old enough to understand this kind of thing and the way he responded to the minute emotions that flickered over her face and in her eyes told her more than any words could have.

With his help, she was able to find her stability once more and even start to take care of the children in their group. She watched over them and worked with them. She met Naomi Wildman, once the child was no longer contagious and well enough to actually meet others. She approved of the child's attempts to befriend the other children and she was grateful for the other child on board's assistance, Icheb. He helped her to set up a schedule for the children as they were still too wary around any of the adults other than Commander Tuvok and Naomi's mother.

Everything changed once again when she met the other Vulcan on board. Vorik.

**42. Blush**

When their eyes met for the first time, they were surprised though they didn't show it. They were Vulcan after all, and Vulcans didn't go around letting all and sunder know that they had emotions…most of the time. Neither of them had been expecting to see another Vulcan in their age group in the Delta Quadrant. To be fair, other than Tuvok there weren't any other Vulcans in the Delta Quadrant that anyone on the ship knew of.

They didn't become fast friends or anything like that. That kind of thing was rare for most Vulcans due to their reticence that was more cultural than anything else. She only saw him around the ship and in the Mess Hall for the most part of the first three months that they were on the ship. She spent more time around Lieutenant Tom Paris than she did around Vorik and she only saw the pilot in passing or when one of the kids wanted to learn something from the blonde. Tom Paris was many things, but good with kids was, not surprisingly for Saavil, one of them. He was kind of like a big kid in an adult's body.

He reminded her of a friend they'd left behind. She hoped he was alright, but she was also realistic with the idea that he was probably dead. She was careful to not bring this up around any of the children or, more importantly, around his brother. Sam was still too much in shock over everything and probably wouldn't handle it very well. He wasn't handling much of anything at the moment.

Ironically enough, it was Vorik that reached through to the troubled young man, although Saavil was certain that it hadn't been his intention to do so.

**43. Booger Buster**

Maria tilted her head and looked at the board in front of her with her tongue sticking out in one direction and her brow furrowed in thought. She wasn't sure just what she was going to do next, but she knew that it would be the most important part of the entire game. She wasn't paying much attention to what was going on around her. That didn't change until an argument started. She blinked in surprise when there was a loud noise just behind her. She didn't duck under the table at first, but when it happened again s he dived and didn't come out.

She refused to come out from under the table no matter what anyone said. The last time she'd come out from under a table that she hadn't wanted to she'd lost her family.

She had a family again and she wasn't going to lose it no matter what. The seven-year-old was frightened that this thing they had going for them, a place to rest and eat and not be afraid, was going to become conditional like it had been before. She hadn't recovered very well from it the first time this had happened.

She stayed under there for over 24 hours before she fell asleep and was pulled out gently by Vorik, the only person that she didn't fight off in her sleep.

In his arms she was still and her slumber deep.

That was not the turning point, but it was the beginning that many would look back on and recognize as, if not the first step, then at least the first inclination to do so.

**44. Brick Red**

Jim didn't want to put that uniform back on, but he knew he had to. He had a mission to fulfill, a world, no, a galaxy to protect. He would do his duty, no matter the cost to himself, just as he had been taught all his life. The worth of the one is just as important as the worth of the many that he never had any doubt about. It was the needs of all involved that would be his distraction. It had paralyzed him momentarily as a young child, but it no longer did so.

He had seen what madness lay in that decision. Had witnessed how it could destroy more than one world and would not watch it happen again.

This, more than anything, is what helped him to get up and put that red student uniform on for one last time. Soon enough he would be wearing more than one color anyway and he would find comfort in the black that all of Starfleet wore. A small part of him really hoped that he would be able to wear the gold of command, but he also knew that he would do his best in the red of tactical or security as well.

**45. Bright Yellow**

The light in front of her was so powerful, but she knew that it wouldn't end her, no matter how it wanted her to believe that. She was strong and she wasn't going to give in. She had a promise to fulfill and a people to save. She breathed in deeply and struck out.

Today would not be the day that she failed.

Not again.

**46. Bronze Yellow**

It was astonishing how life could change at the last moment. What was one way for however long you'd been alive could suddenly change to mean something completely different. Even if that difference was only a slight change, it was still big enough to not be the same thing and that was what was so hard to accept.

That more than anything else was what made it so hard for George Samuel Kirk to accept.

He was a man of science, but he was also a man that knew, intimately, that magic did in fact exist. He wasn't the best at controlling what little he had, but he did know that it existed and was powerful. Science was powerful in and of itself, especially when used properly and correctly and, most importantly, by someone who actually knows what they are doing. Magic is both very much the same and very much not at the same time. It was maddening.

"Sam, will you join us for breakfast?"

He turned and looked at Saavil. She was awaiting him with no expression on her face.

"I'll be along shortly."

She took a few moments to look into his eyes wordlessly before she nodded and turned to leave. He watched as the door opened and then closed behind her, leaving him alone.

**47. Brown**

Brown eyes, he should have had brown eyes, but he did not.

That more than anything else is what tells Spock that he has entered a place that he has never been to before. He had seen other places, other universes (sometimes he still wondered at the use of such a word, it was so illogical) and the eyes of his dearest friend had always remained the same. James Kirk had always had brown eyes or at least hazel-brown, never had they been blue.

Blue eyes were what really told him that this place was different, so very different from his home and any other place he had ever been to and likely ever would be to.

That was all right, though, he was after all a scientist. He would do better than adapt, he would grow here and hopefully be able to help his people and those of this galaxy better than he had ever been able to in his own.

**48. Brown Sugar**

Out of everything that he finds out from Old Spock (yes that nickname was kind of lame and no, Jim didn't have any problem using it. It made the old man smile and that was good enough for him) it's the difference in his eyes against his counterpart's that strikes him as the most important part. Funny how having your father die on the day of your birth which is actually kind of early isn't the thing that tips him off the most about anything.

He knows that the eyes are important partly because of that old saying that has been thrown about for over a millennia. The eyes are the window to the soul. They are also the door, as he has heard in several other places that aren't all open to the mainstream public. He knows better than most everyone (he wouldn't say everyone period as he knows that he isn't the only one with this knowledge. He just happens to be the only one in the nearest hundred light years) that this is true. He knows that the difference showing between his eyes and his counterpart's eyes aren't just because of the radiation or any other problems that he knew he had from being born when and where he was born. His eyes are still the crystal clear blue they had been when he was born for a reason.

He was the first in more than a century in his family Line to be truly Active. Even if that wasn't enough to save everyone he cared about. After all, all the power in the universe won't help you when you have no idea how to use it without accidentally sending those you're trying to help out of your galaxy at the least or incinerating them with the sheer energy at the worst.

**49. Bubble Gum**

Vorik isn't sure what it was about the small human girl that had reached out to him. He's not even sure if the others know. He would wonder what it is about him that causes a child that has shied away from just about every other crew member of _Voyager_ to have her look up at him with wide green eyes and offer him the last piece of candy she has on her.

The Vulcan engineer cannot bring himself to turn the pink piece of bubblegum down. It is only after his jaw has chewed it for several hours that he realizes that she had smiled at him and he had smiled back at her through his eyes. He hadn't been able to look at anyone with that kind of affection since he'd last seen his younger brother before accepting his commission to work aboard _Voyager_.

**50. Burnished Brown**

It had started out all right, sensors were working correctly, the ship's warp drive was just fine and they hadn't had any problems or incidents involving the inhabitants of the Delta Quadrant. That week had actually been pleasant, up until they had received the message from Astrometrics.

Things kind of went downhill and uphill (somehow at the same time) after that point.

Soon after the message was received there was a flicker on the bridge between the captain's chair and the helm that looked like some kind of dull colored flame attempting to take a human shape before it flickered out? After it flickered out the ship made a jump and the stars around them were not even seen as streaks of light anymore. Everyone, ship-wide, braces themselves as they travel further and faster than they had when Kes had sent them hurtling thousands of light years closer to home when she had left their crew.

Engineering comms in to report that the flickering that had been on the bridge is now somehow _in_ the warp core. Ensign Kim reports that there seems to be some kind of shield _around_ the ship's shields, holding _Voyager_ together so that the insane speed it's hurtling at doesn't rip the ship to shreds. Their internal sensors can't read anything beyond strange energy and photons being behind the flickering light.

**51. Burnt Orange**

The planet they found them on was one of the weirdest colored planets he had ever seen. They're still not sure how a planet can look so orange from orbit and have little to no orange on the actual surface except where it blends in with the green of the foliage. They don't spend as much time looking into that when they come across a crude campsite with starving and comatose children. Children that are very much only from Alpha Quadrant species and don't seem to have any kind of technology to explain their presence in the Delta Quadrant.

They bring them aboard and are horrified when they do find files that match up with the children.

Some of these children were supposed to have died on Tarsus IV.

**52. Burnt Sienna**

They're sent back to his childhood nightmare to check up on the new colony that has arisen several months after the destruction of Vulcan. This planet is one of the few that many of the remaining Vulcans have chosen to settle on, though they are still mixed up with the few colonists that were there already. Attempts to find another planet that is close enough like the lost Vulcan home world that is still in Federation space have all failed. Vulcans, ever logical, seem to have accepted this and are trying to move on.

This isn't to say that there haven't been attempts to find them a permanent home that look good, but all attempts to make sure they are safe enough from outside forces (or crazy Romulans, even if the Romulan Star Empire has gone out of their way to not harass or cause problems with Starfleet since the whole Nero incident). No one feels safe enough leaving one of the Founding Races of the Federation with anything less than the best protection they can afford. The problem is that Starfleet took just as big a hit and are several ships down and are still trying to recover their personnel numbers.

Either way, Tarsus IV looks like a good place to the Vulcans and they're getting along with the twenty or so humans that have been trying their hardest to make that planet habitable again. The _Enterprise_ is being sent not only with supplies (and a couple more Vulcans that they're supposed to be picking up on the way over) but to check up on the progress so far.

Jim doesn't say anything to his crew about his own past on that planet, not even when he receives a personal message from one of the few survivors left. It looks like Tom Leighton is the current head of the colony in question.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:** In case it hasn't come up yet, I have taken liberties with the basic structure of what senshi are and what they do and so forth.

**53. Cadet Blue**

Out of everyone, Jim is one of the few who never wondered just why Starfleet cadets wore red instead of blue. There had been and probably would continue to be debates on why something so simple was one way instead of another. Most of the debates were form humans or those who knew a lot about human culture; after all, Starfleet Academy was on Earth.

Despite what many think or hypothesize, the color isn't because of Starfleet trying to be neutral or fair or anything like that. It's because that specific color of blue belongs to another organization that is far more wide and connecting that just over a Quadrant or even one galaxy. That color is recognized by so many and Starfleet didn't want to pick up any more enemies than the ones they would make themselves.

At least the original Founders of Starfleet knew that reasoning, even if many of the ones to come after them don't.

**54. Canary**

She was always considered the spare; the one they turned to only when everyone else was dead and gone and because no one wanted the help of the broken unless there was no one left who was whole. This was part of the reason why she had been so confused as to why her uncle had wanted her help and why he had sent her on such a ridiculous errand. He could find out all of the information he wanted her to pick up for him faster than she could get it back to him. It was also, mostly, useless information for him to have in the first place.

It wasn't until she was face to face with a man who had been so close to one of her last charges that she started to think that maybe her uncle had, had something completely different in mind when he'd sent her out on this fool's errand.

She kind of hated her uncle for that moment.

"So, it's been a while." The old doctor drawled as he made and kept eye contact with the woman behind the force field. "Any particular reason you're out and about this time of the century?"

She gulped, "N-not really?"

She winced as he raised an eyebrow at her question. He said nothing more, just continued to stare into her eyes like only a father and grandfather who knew something was up could do. She swallowed rather harshly; she'd never really had a father or a grandfather in her life and she was actually a good deal older than the elder looking man in front of her. That didn't stop the effectiveness of the Look he was giving her.

Finally, she sighed and broke the silence, "I don't know. My uncle asked me to check up on a few things and I wasn't really expecting to stay out and about for longer than it took to do that."

"And what was it that your uncle, who by the way you haven't really mentioned having before, had you looking into?"

She shrugged, "honestly, I can't even really remember what it was anymore. What I found has all but pushed it out of my mind and I have a few questions myself for you."

"Such as?"

"Such as how George Samuel Kirk Jr. can be alive and a teenager in the Delta Quadrant right now."

Dr. Leonard 'Bones' McCoy blinked in surprise and was suddenly very grateful that he was already sitting down.

**55. Caribbean Current**

She wondered where her other half was, idly skimming her bare feet through the waters just below her.

Her other half had left not too long ago or was it several years ago? Time was such a hard concept when you didn't have to worry about it anymore. She tilted her head as she looked down into the clear waters and listened to the wind and the waves make their own kind of special music before forgetting whatever it was she had been thinking about.

She watched as the clouds overhead darkened and the wind picked up, tossing the water around her in big sheets of water that drenched her from head to toe. She raised her arms into the air and laughed as she allowed the winds to buffet her tiny frame.

She could always ask her sister if she really wanted to find whatever it was that she had missed.

**56. Caribbean Green**

The cubes surrounded them and still they pushed forward, trying to outrun certain death in such a way that they hadn't had to worry about for the last dozen sectors or so. Captain Kathryn Janeway idly wondered, somewhere in the back of her mind where she wasn't paying any attention to, just when their run of luck had run out. Because they hadn't had to worry about the Borg for several months and she had kind of been enjoying that.

They hadn't been caught just yet and she prayed to whoever it was that was helping them out that they wouldn't stop giving the lost crew help.

Things had been going well since they had come across those children on that planet several months ago. The kids were finally starting to look a little less like survivors of the Twentieth Century Holocaust and more like children. They still had moments where they would flinch away from people and didn't seem to like being around most of the adults, but they no longer ran from the room or watched everyone around them with suspicious, haunted eyes.

Then, out of nowhere, three Borg cubes showed up and started chasing their little ship down. The strange flicker in their war drive had managed to give them that strange boost of energy and speed at moments when it looked like the Borg were going to catch them. One of the Borg cubes had, strangely, stopped in its tracks almost 10 minutes ago. _Voyager's_ sensors hadn't really picked up just why that was, but no one was complaining. They still had two cubes to deal with right now.

"Captain! We've lost another cube, this time something seems to have happened to it during warp!"

"What! Do we have any idea?"

"Confirmed, captain! The second cube is nothing but remains!"

"Well-"

At that moment the ship jumped to faster than light speed once again without any of the crew's doing, leaving the final cube behind with empty scanners and no way to track them. They had exceeded the speed that a cube could reach using their trans-warp technology.

**57. Caribbean Pearl**

Captain Janeway grit her teeth as she stalked over to her ready room after informing Chakotay that he had the bridge. Her eyes made contact with Tuvok for one long moment before she requested that he follow her. He nodded and allowed one of the younger officers on the bridge to temporarily take his place. He followed her with a calmness that she honestly envied in him at the moment.

She waited until they were both seated at her desk on either side. "Do you have any ideas, any at all, as to just who or why this is happening?"

He raised an eyebrow as he answered, "I have my suspicions, but do not have enough evidence to have more than that."

"I'll take anything you can offer me at this point, Tuvok. We're being almost herded from the look of things. We didn't start having more problems until several months after rescuing those kids. I'd hate to think that something sinister is coming from one of them, but I have a ship and a crew to take care of. I have to think of what's best for everyone and not just for a select few."

Tuvok knew that, despite what she'd just said, his captain wouldn't just abandon the kids they'd found. She just wasn't that type of person, but she was worried and with good reason. Someone was helping them after seemingly herding them to an orange planet with Alpha Quadrant races on it. Most of those children were either very old or dead. They'd run into this kind of thing in the Delta Quadrant before, but there had always been an explanation. This didn't seem to have one that had an explanation based in something that his captain would accept.

She was a scientist. How do you explain magic to a scientist when you yourself didn't know just what that all entailed.

"I believe that the young Vulcan female Saavil will have the best answers for us at this moment. Possibly Kirk as well."

She sighed as if she had expected an answer like that, but her face remained determined. "All right, as soon as we drop out of faster than light speed or whatever this is, I want to talk with both of them."

They felt the ship begin to slow and Tuvok left to gather the two teens while Janeway left for the Conference room.

**58. Carnation Pink**

Every year on his mother's birthday, Jim Kirk would either buy, grow or even replicate pink carnations and have them set out on the table or desk if he didn't have a table. He did this even when he was small and his mother was away on missions. If he was able to, he would comm her and speak with her while showing her the flowers. As he got older and he saw his mother less and less he continued this tradition.

One year into life at the Academy his mother died five days before her birthday.

Jim still got the flowers and set them up on his desk in his dorm room.

**59. Cedar Chest**

"I want answers and I want them now."

The two teens stared up into their new captain's eyes passively. One of them had a good idea of what she was talking about, but the other was having a hard time feeling anything but apathy towards this woman. Yes she had saved him and those he was looking after, but she hadn't saved his brother or his keeper and no matter what the reasons were he had a hard time forgiving her for that. In the back of his mind, Sam was aware that he wasn't been logical or fair or anything but petty, but he couldn't bring himself to care.

Saavil, on the other hand, had a pretty good idea what the captain was asking about, she just wasn't sure how to answer her and have the captain take her seriously. Yes, Saavil was a Vulcan and they didn't really believe in frivolous things, but Saavil was fairly certain that the captain would also take into account that she had been through 'a horribly traumatizing experience and who knows what that could do to a mind with abilities like the Vulcans.'

What Saavil didn't take into account, probably due to the months she'd been on Tarsus IV and the shock she was still working through (though it was mostly in the back of her mind) was that Captain Janeway was close friends with Commander Tuvok. She would take into account whatever it was the Saavil would tell her and only express her doubts with either her first officer or the head of her security. Together, the three of them would decide that while Saavil did have issues to work through this was not one of them.

**60. Cerise**

She continued to hide away from the people on the ship, keeping watch on her little family and making sure that the ship was able to jump to faster than light speed, even if it could only handle that for a few minutes. She hadn't been able to push the ship as much as she had before they had found her family. She hadn't been too worried about it at first as they were still making good speed, until they stumbled across those three Borg cubes.

She hadn't seen nor heard much from the Borg during most of her life and so had been slightly fascinated by them. She had been frightened, though, when she saw how terrified the crew that had taken in her family had been. She had been able to disable one of the cubes before noticing that the other two were closing in fast. She shimmered herself into their tube of blue energy and set about pushing it as fast as she could. It wasn't fast enough to outrun the two cubes following and she'd had to flick out of the smaller ship and into the middle of another of the cubes. She'd left behind some of her own energy to boost the shields around _Voyager_ while she let loose one of her older attacks on the cube she was in. The pieces that were left were mostly smaller than she was.

It had taken her a bit to summon up the energy to flicker back into the tube of blue before pushing everything she had left into it. It had gotten her family and their new ship far enough away from the Borg cube that when she passed out she hadn't worried for their safety for the moment. She wasn't sure just how much longer she'd be able to do this, though.

**61. Cerulean**

Kathryn Janeway looked at her first officer and then at her oldest friend. "What should we do, gentlemen?"

She had gotten something out of the two, well out of the Vulcan but she was pretty sure Saavil wouldn't have said anything if Sam hadn't let her. It sounded a little too fantastical to her, but by this point she was willing to believe just about anything as the reasoning behind their faster speed. She'd be able to prove or disprove it eventually and especially with the help of her crew. She was taking it up with her two most trusted officers first before bringing it to the rest of the senior crew.

Chakotay shrugged slightly to indicate that he was still thinking about it. "I'd take her word for it in regards to whatever this entity is. It seems like it's trying to take care of the crew because we're taking care of the children it wanted us to find."

"That makes it sound like the Caretaker." Janeway muttered.

"While your comparison is slightly accurate, she isn't of the same race as the Caretaker."

Both the captain and the first officer turned to look at Tuvok with something that wasn't quite surprise but showed that they hadn't completely expected that remark either.

"Tuvok, do you know the entity?"

"I do not know her in the same way that I know the two of your or anyone else on this ship but I do know of her in the same way I know of Surak and his teachings."

Janeway let out a relieved sigh, "Then lay it on us."

**62. Cerulean Frost**

Sam's first argument with someone on board of _Voyager_ was with Vorik, the young Vulcan engineer. It was also what helped Sam start to open up towards anyone since being found by the _Voyager_ crew. Their argument went something like this:

"Greetings, I have come to ascertain whether you will be joining us for breakfast this morning."

Silence.

"I see that you have not halted in your decision to ignore everyone and everything around you. This is not conducive to you healing or in helping those under your care to heal."

Silence.

"If you continue this action or lack of action then I shall simply 'help' you 'get over it.'"

The silence continued up until Vorik picked Sam up and physically dragged him out of the room and into the main room where everyone else was waiting for breakfast.

Sam responded by fighting the hold Vorik had on him. Vorik countered this quickly enough and the two of them spent a good 10 minutes in the doorway fighting to see who would win before Maria looked up at the two of them with watery eyes and sniffled. Both young men halted their actions at hearing the sniffle and turned their heads slowly towards the group that was watching them. Neither party blushed but they did exchange looks that agreed to finish this later, under less supervision.

After that day, whenever someone wanted something from Sam, Vorik was sent in for some strange reason that most people couldn't figure out. (Saavil and Maria would then exchange looks where the latter was grinning and the former somehow looked just as mischievous without actually make an expression.)

**63. Cherry**

The _Enterprise_ arrived on the scene just in time to stop either of the ships from freaking out even more than they already were. (For the Vulcans that just meant they arrived before they could start trying to communicate using Morse code…again…) Uhura was able to pull up a visual of a strange shuttle-craft looking thing. It was floating listlessly in space and didn't respond to any of their hails. Captain Kirk had Uhura reassure the other two vessels that he would take care of the situation and sent a few engineers over to take a look at their warp cores as well.

The little ship-shuttlecraft in front of them had a serial number that wasn't recognized by anyone but it did have Starfleet's name stamped on it as well as the name _Delta Flyer_. It looked like it was powered just enough for life support and nothing else. They did detect life signs on the ship but weren't able to beam them off. There was some kind of energy field that was distorting their transporter beams, this was what was also interfering with communications and, on closer look, the warp fields that the Vulcan and Federation ships.

Captain Kirk wasn't surprised when he received a personal hail from the Vulcan ship that he took in his ready room. He was surprised by the content of the message. Apparently the _Delta Flyer_ was something from Old Spock's timeline or universe or whatever it was. (He did have a temporary new name, but Jim didn't bother with it. Most of the surviving Vulcans knew who he was anyway, it's kind of hard to hide that kind of thing from a bunch of telepaths, touch or otherwise.)

**64. Chestnut**

Scotty was able to, eventually, work out how to teleport four of the five life signs that were on the _Delta Flyer_ to the _Enterprise_ with no further difficulties. The last life sign kept reading as some kind of cybernetic being that also had a double sign as a human. It confused the transporters just a little too much in conjunction with whatever was causing the initial disruption. Bones was able to get the four to the Medical Bay quickly enough as they'd used the transporter that was on that deck when beaming in.

Jim was told to pretty much do what he could about the other ships while Bones looked into their new guests. Jim took this in stride once he got the news that all five life signs were still going strong, even the one still on the _Delta Flyer_. It took some fancy work from Chekov, Uhura, Spock and Jim as well, but they were able to get the strange shuttle thing into one of the docking bays in the _Enterprise_. Once it was in the larger starship the disruption cut off and the other two ships regained whatever it was that had been cut off. They were also able to beam the last life form out of the strange shuttle and get her (and Scotty was very clear on that) to Bones as well.

Once everything was cleared up (mostly) the _Enterprise_ and the other two ships then set in a course for Tarsus IV once again.

**65. Chocolate**

She was the only one really aware of what was going on even though she seemed to be in some kind of coma-like thing. She wasn't going to tell anyone that she was meditating and working on keeping her companions' in a safe pocket of air while she tried to stay aware enough to do so. They had come through whatever it was they had used to get here. She hadn't really been paying that much attention when it was explained the first five times and when it had actually happened she had been rather preoccupied by keeping the Borg sphere from sending out any messages through the opening.

She was fairly certain that she had accomplished her task in that regard, but had been unable to make anything on the ship work before they started losing life support. She'd pumped energy into it to keep them from losing it too badly and then the shuttle had stopped producing air. The rest of the life support systems were working fine, though, so that was something.

She'd heard several beeps going off on the consul, but hadn't had it in her to check up on that with so much of her attention on keeping the four with her breathing. When she'd felt something transporting her and three of her companions off the _Delta Flyer_, she'd honestly panicked a bit. They weren't moving the last and Comet took everything she had and threw it out to keep that last member breathing even if it meant that she wouldn't be able to keep tabs on the other three or even herself. She'd have to have faith in the inherent goodness of whoever was transporting them onto their ship.

She hoped this wouldn't be the last mistake she'd ever make.

**66. Cinnamon Satin**

Seven of Nine was the first to open her eyes. She was sitting in an old model of Sick Bay that was just slightly off from what her memories informed it should be at. A beeping went off from the biobed that she was laying on and a brunette that looked very familiar and yet younger than what he should be came into the room as she was sitting up. The brunette looked at her and ran a very outdated medical scanner over her.

"So, is it normal where you come from to have bits of machinery all throughout your major systems? Also, does everything feel all right? It was kind of hard to get what you needed done medically as I wasn't keen on making anything worse."

"…I am undamaged. Thank you for your…concern." Seven stood up and away from the strange technology that was both antiquated and not quite right at the same time. Just like the rest of the Medical Bay around her. "Are my companions well?" She looked around the area and was relieved (though she didn't show it) that all those who traveled with her were there and breathing.

She moved towards the nearest bed.

"Now wait just a minute." The doctor followed after her, but didn't stop her as she scanned over the implements laid next to Doctor Bashir. He did try to stop her once she picked up a hypospray and moved to use it on the man lying unconscious before her.

"There is no need for alarm, this will revive him and he will see to the rest of our party." She was able to inject the doctor on the bed with the hypospray before it was forcibly removed from her hand. She didn't fight it and even allowed the security officer to move her away from the bed so that the _Enterprise's_ doctor could make sure she hadn't killed the one who was finally starting to wake up.

Success.

**67. Citrine**

Julian Bashir regained consciousness and the first thing he noticed were pretty much the same things that Seven of Nine had noticed, just spun a little differently do to their different personalities. For one thing, he was able to communicate much more effectively than she had with the people whose care they were all in. Because of that he was able to help revive the rest of their companions with a lot less trouble than she had.

"Thank you for taking care of us while we were indisposed." The young doctor smiled at his older counterpart as the others regained their senses.

He still kept an eye on them and was able to help Be'lanna as she suffered from some slight nausea from the drugs. She hated anesthetics for a reason, their counter always made her slightly queasy. Comet was fine as she'd just needed a bit of sleep in order to regain some charge after the way she'd overextended herself. She would still require a good night's sleep and several good meals before she'd be all better, but she was well enough to be awake and moving around. He'd taken a quick look over of Seven and she was running as well as possible considering she would need to regenerate sometime within the next 24 hours at the least. Saavil was probably doing the best out of everyone and she only had a slight bruise on her left cheek that was almost done healing anyway.

As Julian was the highest ranking officer in their group as far as Starfleet went, he should probably have requested the meeting with the ship's captain.

Comet requested it instead, right after she'd requested a meeting with one James Tiberius Kirk as soon as they could find him.

**68. Coconut**

Uhura looked slightly surprised before she turned to the captain, "Sir, I have a request from Medical for you."

Jim stood up, "Mr. Spock?"

"I shall accompany you, captain."

Before they were even half-way to the turbo lift, Uhura spoke again, "Sir, I also have a request to speak with the captain."

Both men paused and looked at her. "Are you saying they asked for me and the captain?"

"Yes, sir. I don't think that they are aware that you are one and the same person."

"Which means someone down there wants me for reasons other than Starfleet or even involving this ship." Jim and Spock exchanged looks before they continued on their way to the 'lift. "Mr. Sulu, you have the conn."

**69. Cool and Crazy**

She didn't want to talk to them. She was slightly afraid of what would happen if she did and she didn't want them to think that she was some kind of crazy stalker who trolled the Quadrant just to find them.

…Even if that was true.

Either way, she didn't really want to talk to the people who had saved her family. Mostly she was afraid of what they would do if they had her under their power. She knew intellectually that they were good people. She'd been assured as such by countless beings, both sentient and not. She was still afraid mostly because of a lifetime of things going wrong when you really needed them to go right just for once!

She knew that they would help out those she had lead them to whether they knew about her or not and that was what she was going to go with for the time being. She was still to worn out to really pay that much attention to anything that was going on inside the ship she randomly hijacked to faster than light speed.

**70. Cool Gray**

He watched as everything came together and then fell apart.

He didn't want things to go this way. He didn't want to watch billions of sentient life forms die such needless deaths. Most of them were children. Well, practically everyone was a child when held up against him and his race, but still. Many of those that died hadn't even learned how to talk just yet.

He had nothing that he could do to help them that he hadn't already sent spinning into motion. He just had to hope that it would be enough.

**71. Copper**

She blazed across the sky, taking out cubes and spheres as quickly and as efficiently as she could. Beside her fought several starships from different space organizations and militaries. She was able to communicate with them due to the advanced comms that she had been outfitted with that were able to withstand her particular energy. Mostly, they were good for one really long siege or several smaller battles before she'd need a new one.

She listened to those in command of this particular battle armada, but also kept her own council if it was needed. There were several times throughout the battle itself where communications were all but down because of either interference from their enemy or damaged systems. They were able to work through it in the end or at least well enough so that they had minimal casualties. They had worked hard to perfect (or come close enough to it) their methods through trial and error and severe loss of life.

That isn't to say that their enemy was losing. In fact, their enemy was winning, slowly but surely.

It was the tortoise and the hare, except it wasn't because the hare was being lazy it was that the tortoise was enhanced with technology from all over two different Quadrants and they were merciless.

**72. Copper Penny**

They were being beaten; there was no other word for it. They weren't even sure just how much time they had left before it was all over. They had lost so much by now, so many home worlds that would never again see the light of day or even the dark of night. Worlds that had, as a whole, been taken and turned into nothing more than another extension of the cold, cruel and efficient Borg.

That didn't mean that anyone was going to be throwing in the towel. Oh no, if they were going to go out it would be fighting until their last breath.

Defeat was never an option.

**73. Cornflower**

Sometimes he felt like that female mouse from Redwall, Cornflower. She would stay at home and take care of the castle and be waiting for her brave Matthias to return home from whatever it was he had been up to. Except he didn't really have a spouse to run off doing who knows what; he'd had friends doing that instead. Sometimes, just like Cornflower, he would go off with them, but more and more he'd be waiting at home with a med kit to clean them up when they got back.

That wasn't the case anymore, oh no. Now he was the one going off and doing stupidly brave things to protect those at home. His friends were all but gone to the dust of time. There were really only two or three of them left at this point. Well, there had been three, but then Spock had gone off on that foolish suicide mission to save Romulus and Remus. He hadn't succeeded, but he'd probably died all the same trying. Again. Only this time there wouldn't be any miracle come back. This time he was gone.

That just left him and Chekov, though heavens knew the kid (over 100 years old and he would always be the kid) was busy. Chekov had settled down with a nice girl and had a rather large family. He was pretty much the only one to do so. Oh Leonard himself had descendants, but he'd had his daughter before they all met and ran around the Quadrant having ridiculously dangerous adventures. He still really only had two left in his family and one of them he only knew about because she was more clever than she should be and had somehow hacked an alien communications network. Made a lot of people happy to know that the Intrepid class starship was still out there trying to make its way home.

Scotty hadn't really had children though he and Uhura had, had a little boy. Said little boy had passed away in an accident a few years after his parents and hadn't had any children of his own. (That they knew about anyway. Some Starfleet officers were really…prolific after all.) Sulu had his daughter and while she was gone by now (Wolf 359 took more people than anyone liked to think about) she'd also left behind several children. Mostly girls who had married and dropped the family name, taking on their husbands' name. (Sulu, like Kirk or Scott or any of their names really, was quite the name to live up to after all.)

Now he was the only one really left and it looked like his adventuring days were just about ready to start all over again. He was sure that somewhere Jim was laughing at him. Crazy $&#&*%.

**74. Cosmic Cobalt**

"So let me get this straight," Janeway started, looking at her oldest friend in the current Quadrant, "There is some kind of intergalactic task force made up of individuals who all have skills that would generally be referred to as 'magic.'"

"That is correct, Captain."

"Also, they had been more or less disorganized due to something happening over a hundred years ago, at least in our part of the universe."

"The Milky Way in particular and the Alpha Quadrant specifically. I had been unsure if it went further into the other Quadrants of our galaxy until we had been in the Delta Quadrant for over two years. Now I am certain that the chaos in the Guardians' ranks is further spread than most of us had initially predicted."

"And you're a part of this?"

"Only partially, Captain. My family is known as a Line, meaning that we have had active Guardians in the past, but we have been dormant for several hundred years at the least. Every now and then we have someone who is a little less dormant. They usually have stronger telepathy or other abilities, but we are still, as a Line, dormant over all."

Chakotay stepped up as it seemed their captain was at a small loss for words. "And you think that the being helping us is someone who isn't 'dormant,' and that they are helping us because of the children we picked up several months ago."

"Yes."

"Do you have any kind of proof other than your own knowledge."

"The Vulcan female Saavil is one of my Line. She was supposed to have died shortly after being rescued from the Tarsus IV colony. It is my belief that she is alive now because she met the being who is helping us and that together they were able to transport themselves and several other children off of the colony."

"But our history still records that she died."

"That is true, which also leads me to believe that she isn't from our own timeline. It has happened before."

**75. Cotton Candy**

Maria liked the fair; the rides were a lot of fun even though they weren't able to replicate a lot of food to experience as well. She enjoyed the face painting the most and giggled with her new friend Naomi a lot. The others were there too and she laughed and ran around with them as well. Saavil stayed off to the side and talked with Vorik for the most part and Sam was seen trying to win at whack-a-mole to get a prize from one of the other kids.

There were other adults around, but Maria didn't pay them much mind. She just wished that their light was able to join them. She hadn't seen JT's light since they'd last seen JT. She hoped the others were okay.

**76. Cultured Pearl**

Jim was more than surprised when he reached the Medical Bay and for more than one reason.

Reason he was surprised Number One: He'd been requested twice by two different names. His birth name and by being captain. The first wasn't because he was the captain though.

Reason Number Two: Not only were all of the members of the strange shuttle awake, but none of them were seriously injured, yet their ship was completely dead in space when it was found and it took a lot of fancy footwork between Sulu, Scotty and Chekov (and a bunch of underlings that shall not be named) to get it into a hanger bay.

Reason Number Three: The closer he got to the Medical Bay the more he felt like there was someone he should know in there, but couldn't place who it was. (The last time he'd felt this type of energy was over a little over a decade ago and they were most likely dead. There was very little chance that they could be on his ship, especially since he hadn't started feeling their 'presence' until just before he'd been called down by Bones.)

Reason Number Four: When he actually walked through the doors into the Medical Bay, he was greeted by a strange group of people that included: A human, a cyborg-looking woman, a Human/Klingon hybrid and…

"Suisei? Saavil?"

"It has been a while, has it not, JT?"

**77. Cyber Grape**

"So how are we going to get her to come out and say hello?"

"I am uncertain, captain. By the time I would have met her, she was not meeting all of the 'new faces' in our circle."

"The disconnection had already gotten that far?"

"I am uncertain. It appears as if she did know of my Line at the time of the Tarsus IV Massacre, and I was already born and on Vulcan at that time. I did not leave Vulcan for several years after that and only joined Starfleet by the time most of Captain Kirk's crew had already been promoted and away from the flagship, as you are aware."

"We could just ask one of the kids we picked up." Chakotay suggested, "They would be our best bet."

"How do we know they'll work with us on this?"

"Why wouldn't they?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: **The prompts are from the colors for Caryola's crayons and colored pencils collections as listed on Wikipedia.

**78. Daffodil**

While his mother loved Pink Carnations, his aunt loved Daffodils for some strange reason. He made sure to bring some when he went to live with her. His keeper had reminded him to bring them as she had been the one to tell him. When he'd asked his keeper why she would know that about his aunt, she'd replied that she had been his aunt's keeper when she was young.

"Why aren't you with her now?"

"Because I am with you."

"Won't you need to be with any cousins I get."

"You won't have any blood cousins from your aunt, Jimmy. That's why I was passed down to you when you were born."

"Passed down?"

"Yes, I will follow your Line as long as it lives. I care for each of you for yourselves and that means that I get along better with some of you than others. Some of your ancestors barely even knew me beyond my duty."

"So you're with me all the time because you like me?"

She smiled at him, "I'm with you all the time because I love you, Jimmy."

**79. Dandelion**

Maria giggled to herself as she raced down the hallway away from her escort. She knew that Vorik would catch her as soon as he got off his shift in Engineering, but she wanted to see him now not later! He was too much fun and he was always nice to her. He reminded her of her big brother and she wanted to keep him as a new big brother for always.

She ducked another crewmember who was walking down the hallway and had tried to grab her. (She looked like she was going to walk into the wall at a bend and he didn't want her to get hurt.) She sailed out behind him after coming up and twirled to giggle as she saw her minder for the day racing after her. Saavil wasn't with her today, because she'd been called to see the captain again and Sam had taken a few of the others to see the Doctor while she had insisted on staying in their room. Really she just wanted to wait until she had a chance to run down to Engineering to see Vorik, he'd be off in about 30 minutes anyway.

She darted into Engineering at the last minute as someone walked out and she came to a stop in front of the warp core.

"Hoshi?"

**80. Dark Brown**

"You won't find her."

"We don't want to hurt her, we just want to meet her and maybe-"

"No, that is not what I meant. You won't find her because she doesn't want to be found. You don't know her and you have never seen her, so you won't find her. It is simple as that."

**81. Deep Space Sparkle**

She was so happy that things were going well. The children were safe, his brother was safe and Vulcan's Star would live on as well. Everything was going to be all right. The people on this ship were taking them into their hearts as well as their home. Not many would do this for no gain before. She knew, she had seen it happen more than a million times. People, whether they were from Earth or not, were selfish beings.

There were those precious few amongst them that were more selfless than the others, but those were few and far between. At least it seemed that way after so long.

She was so tired. Maybe this was her chance to finally rest.

**82. Denim**

They were so good to him, better than he thought they would be. Not that his Uncle Frank was a bad person, he just wasn't the same as having an actual parent. Jim thought that it was more than a shame that his aunt and uncle weren't able to have kids.

It was a crime against humanity that they would forever be childless.

People that good didn't deserve to be barren. He had wanted to tell them that more than once, but had never gotten up the nerve to be quite that blunt. When they took his brother in as well, he saw the looks they gave one another when they thought no one was looking and he knew. He knew that they didn't mind that they had no children, because they still shared their love for children with every child that they met.

**83. Denim Blue**

She was so very grateful to her sister-in-law for asking for their help. She absolutely loved working with kids! She worked with several others, though they had mostly grown up at this point. She knew that she would be taking in another young woman soon enough, but she would never say no to taking in more.

Many people looked on her with pity when they found that such a loving and motherly woman would never be able to have children. They would have such sadness in their eyes when they would look at her or think about her. (She knew the latter because she'd come across several neighbors talking about her and they looked so awfully sad that it had broken her heart just listening to them. They weren't speaking ill about her, they were generally sad on her behalf.)

She wasn't sad about it, though. No, she looked at it as another reason why she would be able to help other people who did have kids, but didn't know quite what to do with them. She had her purpose even if others didn't see it for what it was. It was her purpose because she had chosen it to be.

That was all that went through her head as she did everything in her power to make sure those children got a head start from Kodos.

**84. Desert Sand**

There wasn't a whole lot they could do about it. The planet was still recovering, but it was also the best bet the Vulcans had on finding a new world to be their main home. They would never get the old one back (obviously, it kind of became a black hole) but even a planet with the same exact requirements wouldn't be the same. It was almost on a spiritual level that most Vulcans would never even admit to having in the first place. They were too logical to put up with anything like that in this day and age.

Tom did the best he could to help his new neighbors feel welcome and worked with them easily. He wanted this planet with such a sad and destructive past to have a new hope as well. He worked harder on his theories and his work to make this dying planet sprout and grow anew, like spring after a long hard winter on the prairie.

But even he knew that they had a long way to go before anything would happen for people to look at this colony and think of hope and a future rather than its blood-stained past. After all, he had been there during those times and he, more than almost anyone else, knew just what they were fighting against.

That was why he'd sent his message to Jim asking for help.

**85. Dingy Dungeon**

When they finally came for them most of their group was gone. He didn't know if they'd been killed by Kodos or if the transportation had worked at least partially. He couldn't feel the connections he'd had with his keeper or with his brother. The slim one he'd had with Vulcan's Star was the first that snapped. It hadn't been something he wanted to repeat ever again.

They had lost another of the kids to gangrene because of the conditions Kodos' men had shoved them in, but they hadn't lost anyone else due to the swiftness of the medical personnel that had swooped down on them once they were found. He had fought against being separated from the remaining children in his care and they had pulled through during some of the worst conditions because of his support.

Unfortunately, he hadn't been able to really connect with what little ability he had left after that. He'd used up all his energy to save those around him that he wasn't able to help his brother's keeper more. He hadn't known how badly she was off until long after he'd used up what little he had.

She refused to accept any apologies from him even in her debilitated state. She'd kept him from finding out on purpose so that the others would survive. She would survive even if she would never really live again. They were not the same thing.

**86. Dirt**

She missed Earth. The way the ground would cradle you and warm you up. She was aware that it didn't do that for everyone, but it always had for her. She figured that it was partially because that was where her birth parents were from. They had been from Earth and they had, had a special connection to it just like their liege whom they served for life. She also knew that her sister didn't really have the same feeling; she felt more warmth when she was in the Black.

She wondered if this was because she had a closer connection to things that were more solid and more likely to slam into planets and moons while her sister had a stronger connection to the stars themselves.

It wouldn't be until they had been out in the Black for the first time that they would begin to understand why that was. It would be even longer before they discovered why they were different even when they shared the same Star Seed and soul crystal. Two halve of the same whole, parted but always connected.

**87. Dodger Blue**

There really wasn't anything more to say. They were going to find out about her eventually and the fact that it had happened sooner rather later didn't really matter all that much in the long run.

And if he kept telling himself that, then it didn't feel like he was betraying the only physical link he had to his family.

**88. Dollar Bill**

Life was a lot simpler back when things cost money.

She didn't know why she thought that, but she figured it was true. People would pay for things in cold hard cash rather than worrying about things being digital in payments or only in terms of influence and power. Back then, money could buy you power too, even if it wasn't the same kind.

Nowadays there wasn't as much cash lying around the place. Resources were considered more valuable if they were useful rather than just looking pretty and being rare. Not that having or not having money had ever really made all that much difference for her, but it was one of the constants at least.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note:** Some chapters are going to be a lot longer than others whilst others (like this one and the previous) are going to be painfully short.

**89. Eerie Black**

She should have felt more alone; her sister would have felt all alone out here. Suisei never did like being so far away from anything solid for long periods of time, unless they were in some kind of asteroid field, she could handle those.

But Hoshi loved the great expanse of space where there wasn't anything close by and all you were looking at was the energy of life itself forming in various phenomena. Nebulae were some of her favorite; they always made her think of baby nurseries on planets. You could look in and see all the cute little stars trying to form. It would be a long time before any of them would get their own Guardian or even a senshi if they were lucky. Most of them would never be able to have either, but they could still be with her.

She was kind of like the Guardian that picked up the orphans of the universe. She could hear them calling out to her even now, happy to be so close to her if even more a moment.

Sometimes, when she was at her worst, she wished that she wasn't tied down and that she would be able to travel the galaxy and maybe even beyond to find all the others. It was one of the traits that helped her grow so close to her charge. He felt the same way.

**90. Eggplant**

Out of everything they had offered the children to eat, the eggplant-like thing (she didn't remember what Mr. Neelix had called it) was probably the thing that Hoshi would like the best. Hoshi liked strangely-colored things, said they reminded her of plants that weren't around anymore. She didn't particularly care for eggplant herself, but she ate it with relish all the same. You didn't turn food down unless you were allergic to it after all.

She was very careful about hiding some of the eggplant thing in a napkin in her pocket and waited until she was able to get to Engineering once again. (She had mad ninja skillz, just like JT!) She knew that Hoshi would love the eggplant thing and so she had to share it with her.

She was caught as she was trying to get under the barrier that protected the warp core from people getting too close. She was still able to leave behind the eggplant.

"Why are you trying to leave that napkin behind?"

"It's for Hoshi, she loves eggplant."

**91. Electric Green**

She tried explaining why she should be allowed near the warp core and absolutely refused the leave Engineering without leaving the napkin behind. She even made Vorik (who was luckily on duty at the time) promise that he wouldn't let anyone bother the napkin until at least just after his duty shift was over.

He was the least surprised amongst his fellow engineers that the napkin was gone without anyone from the _Voyager_ crew being behind its disappearance. He was learning not to doubt Maria for some reason. (A part of him wouldn't admit that if he were able, he'd adopt her as his own.) He could tell when she was being completely sincere about something, and when she was being like that, there was little chance of her being wrong.

He nodded to the flicker within the warp core's blue tube when he felt gratitude coming from it. It wasn't until after his duty shift was over that he filed a report to Commander Tuvok about it. He didn't think that Maria or the flicker would mind all that much for some reason.

**92. Electric Lime**

She didn't want to come out.

She was quite happy staying where she was and not really having much to do with people who moved and walked and talked about their lives. Sam wasn't doing any of that at first, but he eventually snapped out of it. (She had been rather surprised when she had found out just how that had gone down. Sam was always the type of person that needed a bit of a nudge when it came to life-altering things that dealt with his immediate blood family. He had worried her slightly for the first two months or so, but he was finally starting to interact and become more alive in general.

He didn't need her all that much anymore, and to be honest, she had a harder interacting with him on a personal level. Jimmy had been different from Sam. He was like her, he wanted to see all that there was out there and learn about. Sam wanted to stay closer to home, much like his mother. He and Suisei had been a very good pair for that.

She tried her hardest to ignore the twinge that came from her bond with her sister. She knew that Suisei was alive, but she also knew that the odds of them ever finding one another again were slimmer than the odds that Vulcans everywhere would drop what they were doing and do the hula at the same time, galaxy-wide. She also knew, however, that Jim would be able to move on in ways that Sam might not. Jim was much more resilient. It was why they had been a good pair as well.

She accepted the napkin covered gift from Maria and watched with contentment as the Vulcan who seemed better able to care for the small child than she would. She was happy for her young friend and also grateful for the treat.

**93. Emerald**

She watched as the hole in the planet grew and knew that this would be the end of her. She felt such great relief, but also such great sadness. She would be leaving him behind to fend for himself. Everyone else was gone or might as well have been gone. She knew, deep in her heart that her sister was still alive, but she also knew that his brother was not.

Still, she felt a small strand link out to wherever her sister was that felt similar to Sam's thread of power, yet different at the same time. She hoped that Jim would be able to meet his niece before time ran out for him as well. It would heal him far more than he would ever know.

**94. Eucalyptus**

The plant they were using was very similar to eucalyptus even if it wasn't exactly the same plant. They used its leaves as bandages and the resin as if it were honey while the twigs were placed in the hair of those that were getting worse as an attempt to help them feel better even if only for a little while.

When they were finally rescued, they made sure to bring as much of the plant with them onto their new home. A plant like this was very valuable to a crew that was always getting into scrapes and it certainly helped brighten the mood when the children added it to a small herb garden in the Mess Hall that they begged the captain to let them plant and take care of. They wanted to add to the ship's supplies in the best way they knew how and that was through the use of herbs and plants that they had long ago learned were useful in many different ways.

It also helped brighten up the crews' morale for some reason.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note:** The author's notes are kind of needed when uploading the chapters for some reason. Otherwise it messes with the numbered prompts.

**95. Fairy Tales Forest**

Growing up on a starship lost in the Delta Quadrant didn't seem all that interesting or even strange to Naomi. Probably because she'd been born a little over a year after they'd been stranded there. She thought that the Borg children that had come aboard several years later were much more interesting than herself. She had mentioned this once to her best friend, Seven and been told that Naomi was just as interesting if not more so. Icheb had agreed with Seven and told Naomi so the next she saw him.

When they had taken aboard more children, children that were actual Federation citizens from a colony in the Alpha Quadrant, Naomi had been ecstatic. Finally there were people that would be on board _Voyager_ all the way back to the Alpha Quadrant that were closer to her own age. She hadn't really asked how or why they had been in the Delta Quadrant after her mother had informed her that it was a very sensitive topic and that the other kids didn't need to be reminded of such things, but she did make friends with them as soon as she could.

She seemed to get along with Maria the best, even though Maria was a whole year older than she was. Maria didn't always act like she was older and she seemed to have some kind of fixation on Vorik from Engineering, but he was an okay guy, so Naomi didn't hold it against her. They had a lot of fun together and didn't mind when the other children would join them, although the eldest boy, Sam was kind of a downer for a while at the beginning. He warmed up to most everyone eventually though he always seemed more interested in science-y things than in playing like Naomi.

He kind of reminded her of Icheb.

**96. Fern**

What most people didn't know was that Jim Kirk kept a small potted fern on the nightstand next to his bed at all times. He usually had the hardier ferns that would survive even if he was unable to water them for a few weeks at a time. The fern itself was more a present from one of his few friends that he had, had before joining Starfleet. It was genetically engineered by one Tom Leighton and was a gift that had been given on Kirk's birthday exactly one year after they'd last seen one another when being rescued from Tarsus IV.

Bones didn't know who it was from, but he did know that it held a lot of memories for Kirk as he'd seen his roommate taking care of it and even talking to it quietly in a language that sounded vaguely Asian yet one that the doctor didn't know. The doctor hadn't tried to learn more than a few words to realize that it was Japanese. He didn't ask his friend where he had learned it and he didn't ask him where the fern had come from.

He had used some of the longer leaves when making bandages for Jim during their time at the Academy when he learned that Jim was more likely to leave the bandages on until he was healed when they incorporated the fern leaves.

The fern was still alive and well, sitting in the captain's quarters by his bed, just as it had since he'd gotten it.

**97. Fiery Rose**

She hadn't thought that she would hold all that much passion in her heart of hearts, not after everything that had happened in her life and after everything she had seen. She would be proven wrong when they would first discover the reality behind the destruction of Romulus and Remus' star.

She didn't think she'd been this worked up about something since before she'd initially shredded her mind to protect her sister and her princess.

The Borg would pay dearly for what they had wrought. She would make them bleed enough to fill all the stars with their green-ish hued blood.

She would more than make sure of it. Especially when they moved beyond Romulan space and started encroaching on planets and stars whose senshi and Guardians she had once known in their infancy. If the Borg wanted a war, then they would have one.

**98. Flesh**

"Why is it that she is able to remain in the warp core without having any kind of detrimental effects on herself?" Captain Janeway looked slightly nonplussed as she gazed into the blue tube that was the heart of her ship's propulsion.

The flickering light within was pulsing slightly as if it were undecided on how it would respond to the gathering of several people around it who weren't usually in engineering. They had gathered there after the main duty shift had ended and mostly comprised of what few personnel were needed to run the ship while having all of the senior officers available. They stood in a slight jumble of people between the warp core and the entrance. With them stood Saavil and Sam Kirk, the other children were being looked after by several other crew members that included Vorik and Samantha Wildman.

"Is there any way to talk to her from out here?"

Sam shrugged, "She wasn't really meant to be with me. She was supposed to stay with my younger brother at all times. I'm still not sure how she ended up here with me while Suisei stayed behind, hopefully with my brother."

"So you do not normally interact with her?"

"Not without Jimmy. Hoshi and I just don't click half so well as they do."

Throughout this small interlude Saavil remained silent and watchful. The Doctor was as well, though he was standing slightly closer to the warp core than some of the others.

"Perhaps we should just speak to her as if she were like any one of us?" the hologram suggested and turned to the blue energy when his captain nodded.

Janeway stepped forward, but didn't need to do much else as the flicker in the warp core faded out and a slight form seemed to mold itself into view before her.

**99. Florida Sunrise**

Nothing could really outshine the beauty of a sunrise, she decided, especially when it was the last.

She stayed and watched as the star that she had been the most attached to was destroyed, taking with it the system that it had watched over for more than several millennia.

The Sol System was gone and it would never come back.

**100. Fresh Air**

She hadn't really breathed 'fresh air' in much longer than he had thought about. She was just as amazed by what was happening in the world or even in the quadrant. She had been kind of sheltered lately, which was kind of a laugh to a person if they actually knew any of her background. Historically speaking, she was probably the least sheltered person in the history of the Sol System (right next to the senshi of Time and such).

It was still rather amusing to see her reaction when she met the first Klingon captain in Starfleet. Leonard knew that he, of all people, shouldn't be taking such pleasure in the look on her face like this, but years spent in the company of the _Enterprise_ crew really taught you to have all kinds of strange humor. He mostly blamed Jim for that, but it's not like the rest of them didn't add to it as well.

It was really a good thing that she was a lot more professional about all of this than he was being or they'd be in some big trouble.

**101. Frostbite!**

The battle had been long and hard, but they had finally won a victory worth celebrating over! The Klingons drank and caroused about the station as Romulans and Vulcans drank their tea or in some cases, chocolate milk. Humans and Bajorans and Cardassians and all other species from the Alpha Quadrant mingled with one another and the people as a group were filled with a desperate kind of joy.

As if they knew that, though they had won this battle and they would not lose another system to the Borg, their time was coming.

**102. Forest Green**

She stared at those around her for a long moment, wondering why they were there. She wasn't really paying that much attention to what they were saying or even really doing. That all changed when the being the most like herself according to her current senses spoke with the carbon-based life forms and received a response.

She was a little startled to be honest. She hadn't met very many life forms that would respond to a photon based life form as if they were an actual person. She wondered if maybe there was something to be said for having others with you that you conversed with. She was honestly having a hard time remembering such a time for herself, although she knew that she must have had a time like that fairly recently, else she wouldn't be trying to help these people who seemed to know her.

She still remembered the little human girl who had left her some purple food. She had enjoyed it immensely even though she wasn't sure just why that action had reached out to her heart.

**103. Fuchsia**

She wasn't really very certain about that color. She wasn't sure why, but it had always bothered her just a little bit. It was probably because Suisei had loved that particular shade more than any other color. Hoshi always thought it was rather strange to contain a favorite anything to only one thing. With colors she thought that it was absolutely ludicrous. Why favor only one when there are so many others that are just as pleasing?

In the end she disliked the color right at this moment, because it reminded her more of her sister than just about anything else. And she didn't know if or when she would ever see her sister again.

**104. Fuzzy Wuzzy**

She had been taken to Sick Bay almost as soon as the meeting was over. She didn't mind overly much; she was kind of exhausted for some strange reason. She felt weaker than a newborn kitten and certainly as if a slight gust of wind would push her over. She was so very tired. She didn't remember the last time she had been this tired, just that it hadn't happened quite like this in a very, very long time.

"She's collapsing!"

"Catch her!"

"Easy, easy there."

She didn't pay much attention to the voices around her and, against their wishes, shut her eyes.


	7. Chapter 7

**105. Gargoyles Gas**

"How is she doing?"

"She doesn't seem to be getting any better, really, but she also isn't getting worse. Honestly, I don't know what to do. Her physiology seems to be moving back and forth between being carbon-based and photon-based. I can't really explain it."

"Is there anything we can do?"

"At the moment, the only thing we can do is talk to those who would know her best and see if there's anything they can tell us. I am at a loss of anything else to do."

**106. Ghoulish Graham Cracker**

"How are you here?"

"Are you James Tiberius Kirk?"

"I am, but that doesn't answer my question."

"…I am here due to the need to speak with Solaris as well as the Vulcan High Council and possibly your Starfleet Command."

There was silence in the room for one long moment before Doctor Bashir spoke up.

"Also, we were wondering if you had an Ambassador Spock. We have been trying to locate him and our attempts to find him is what partially led us here."

**107. Giant's Club**

She hated them like she hadn't hated anyone in a millennia it seemed. They had taken everything (almost everything) that she cared about and didn't just destroy it. Oh no, they had gone a step further and ripped what and who she loved to little bits and then refashioned them into something that more dead than alive but could still walk around.

She used to think that those old zombie apocalypse movies and books were kind stupid.

She didn't think that anymore, and she hated the Borg all the more for it.

**108. Glossy Grape**

She liked purple, she liked it a lot. It was probably why she liked eggplant so much. She had a hard time accepting the color for all that it reminded her of, but at the same time she loved it for that same reason.

It was the main reason she actually ate her food whenever it included either grapes or eggplant or some other purple food within it. Those who fed her learned this quickly enough and made sure that something purple was always on her plate during meal times.

She still had a hard time thinking straight, though. She idly wondered if this was what true exhaustion was for her kind. That thought didn't last long as her eyes caught something shiny in the room and her mind was caught in comparisons about the different levels of shiny once more.

**109. Gold**

She hadn't really accepted anyone else in her princess's place after Tobi's death. She had taken care of them, even learned to take care for them on a personal level, but she had never been as close to any of her princess's descendants as she had been to her first Solaris.

This was true up until she had held Jimmy for the first time. When she looked into his blue eyes for the first time, she remembered the golden aura that would surround her princess of the Sun. She remembered how it would reach out to her and to her sister and made them feel for the first time since they'd been born as one soul in two bodies that they were whole and complete.

Little Jimmy had that same aura and when he looked up into her eyes, though her sister was far away, she felt safe and loved as if her sister was a part of her once again.

**110. Gold Fusion**

"I am not your Suisei, Captain Kirk." Comet looked slightly regretful, "I am Guardian Comet and I have been sent by the Q Continuum to make contact with the current Solaris of this 'Verse."

Jim straightened up in response to Comet's posture and looked into her eyes. He was and yet wasn't surprised to find that her eyes were not like his brother's Suisei. Where Suisei's eyes had held a small fission of gold threaded throughout her iris. This Guardian Comet who stood in front of her had no such thread.

Her eyes were a clear piercing blue, not unlike his own, but with a small ribbon of violet in them that had never been present in Suisei or Hoshi's eyes. For some reason the added color made him so very sad.

"Well, shall we move this meeting to a better location?" Jim's voice is all business, though he is aware that Bones and Spock at least recognize the strange pitch in his voice.

He hasn't dared to reach out to her with his aura just yet.

**111. Goldenrod**

"I think she's coming around."

When she awoke she was in a strange place; it reminded her of what a Medical Bay would look like aboard a Starfleet vessel, but at the same time… It was different, a little too different. Kind of like comparing Ancient Rome with Seventeenth Century Rome or comparing dark Belgian chocolate with cheap American dark chocolate.

"How are you feeling?"

She looks up and is greeted with the photon-based life form that seems to be the ship's doctor. Beside him is a dark-skinned Vulcan who feels familiar even if she can't place how. She continues to stare at them, not exactly understanding what they are saying until the Doctor has repeated himself a few times, looking more strained every time he does so.

"I am…well, I think?"

"Is that an answer or a question?"

"I…" she trails off as she meets the eyes of the Vulcan. "Why do you feel familiar?"

He raises an eyebrow before responding, "The Vulcan female Saavil is a blood relative. I 'feel' familiar to you because of your connections to her."

**112. Golden Yellow**

"Captain Kirk, we sent orders for you to continue on to Tarsus IV."

"And we're on our way; we should arrive there within a few hours at the most."

"Then why are you contacting us?"

"…I have an official Guardian who needs to address the Council. Her companions have also requested a meeting at the same time."

**113. GOV Position**

It took several weeks of rehabilitation before she was able to understand more than only a few sentences at a time. She would start talking with someone, usually the Doctor, one of the Vulcans on board or to a random person, but only for a few sentences before she would space out and lose focus on not only what they were talking about, but who.

Captain Janeway's talks with her began the same every time:

"Hello, how are you feeling today?"

She always began with that because anything else, for some reason, didn't engender a response or if it did, it usually wasn't a very encouraging one.

"I am…well. May I see Solaris today?"

Janeway still hadn't managed to find out just who this 'Solaris' was as trying to do so would just end in the young woman looking at her in confusion. Tuvok wasn't much more help and none of the children were any help either. They would simply look at Sam Kirk and then look back at her and wouldn't tell her anything. Kirk still refused to talk about anything serious that didn't involve getting home. She hadn't been able to get him into the same room as their injured young woman since she'd collapsed.

**114. Grand Canyon**

_He wasn't going to stop. Why wasn't he going to stop? He was going to die! _

_There was nothing she could do to stop him from going over the edge. Her body seemed more than frozen, it wasn't even breathing as she watched that convertible sail over the edge. Its precious burden sailing with it as the pre-teen laughed all the way to his death._

She fell off the bio-bed and landed on the floor gasping for breath.

**115. Granite Gray**

They were running low on dilithium crystals once again and they hadn't found any planets that would have any within the range of their current supplies. The senior crew was aware of this problem, but not many others on the ship were.

Somehow, their newest member was aware of it, even though she wasn't able to carry on a conversation that was longer than five minutes. The captain along with her senior officers found out about this because she seemed to appear in the conference room that they were all gathered in trying to find a solution to the problem. She seemed to shimmer into existence at the end of the table they were all sitting at.

She stood at the end of the table as they all looked at her and then she drew a picture of a small solar system in the air between them with her finger before pointing at a small moon that Neelix hadn't known anything about. She continued to do so until Tuvok had asked her a question in Vulcan to which she had nodded.

**116. Granny Smith Apple**

She hated apples for some reason. She wouldn't tell anyone why that was and only one person on board really knew. The others that might have known wouldn't know this simply because it had never really come up. It didn't even matter what type of apple it was, she absolutely refused to eat them. She would always get one whenever they were available, but she wouldn't actually eat them.

Instead she would cut them up and share them with any children that happened to be around her. They were the only ones who didn't question her about it.

Seven of Nine was the first to figure it out, though she didn't share that knowledge with anyone else. She felt grateful that the young woman had confided in her.

She'd been in Astrometrics at the time and the young woman had joined her silently. She'd seemed content to simply watch the screen as the different phenomena were scrolled over.

**117. Grape**

She didn't push the warp core so much anymore, though she did offer a few times to do so. She was refused on the grounds that it wasn't safe for her to do so. They had discovered that part of the reason she was so unintelligible when they had finally gotten her to show herself to them was because she was losing touch with her ability to reason in the same way that 'solids' would each time she did so.

This didn't stop her from doing it anyway whenever the Borg showed up.

**118. Gray**

She pushed them further than they had initially thought by the time she passed out and was separated from the warp core. Saavil, Tuvok and Seven of Nine had found a particular frequency of sound that, when passed through the warp core would eject Hoshi without damaging any of _Voyager's_ systems. The same couldn't really be said for Hoshi.

She'd been thrown from the blue tube with enough force that when her leg had clipped the railing surrounding the core, her leg had broken.

It hadn't been done on purpose and those who had seen it had been horrified at the sight of the bone poking through her leg.

They were lucky that they were far enough away from the Borg by that point. It would be several months before they would stumble across another Borg vessel. It would take that long for Hoshi to go through rehabilitation once again.

**119. Green**

Comet kept mostly to her own counsel as they continued on their journey towards Tarsus IV. She didn't particularly care about the colony, but she wasn't exactly eager to arrive there either. Except for the fact that they would supposedly be returning to Earth after this mission. She needed to meet with the Federation Council and see if they had any active ties to the Guardians.

She didn't talk much with the crew, though a few of her companions did; mostly Doctor Bashir and Commander Torres. Torres seemed to get along surprisingly well with the ship's chief engineer, a Mr. Scott. Doctor Bashir got along with just about everyone well enough to not have any grudges started up against him. Seven of Nine was a lot more stiff with those around her, save for the first officer, the chief medical officer and, strangely enough, the senior navigator.

The only person that Comet avoided being alone with was the captain. He seemed torn between relieved at her actions and slightly hurt.

**120. Green Blue**

Jim knew that she wasn't his Suisei, that he really shouldn't feel hurt that she continued to brush him off whenever he tried to get a meeting with her that didn't include at least one other person, usually one of her companions. He couldn't help it, though. Her aura was both soothing and chaotic in that she was so close to Suisei, the last of his family, and yet so different at the same time.

He knew that Bones was a little worried about him, but he was able to brush off Guardian Comet's attitude, mostly. It was thanks to Saavil being there that he was able to let it go. He hadn't seen Saavil in a decade and he had missed her. He wasn't surprised to see that she was still a little older than he was, but their age disparity also didn't seem to be as great as it once had been.

Saavil had told him a little of what had happened to them and he was grateful that the others were fine and had gotten off the colony. It still stole his breath when he heard that though they had escaped that death, for some of them death had still been waiting for them in the new place that they had been sent to.

His brother would never be able to come back to him, but he had found happiness before he had passed. Jim took what little comfort from that he could. Saavil helped when she told him of those that Sam had left behind. He was an uncle.

**121. Green Lizard**

Icheb found it strange that the newest member of their crew was a young woman who didn't appear to be all that much older than he was. She didn't seem bothered by any of his implants, despite the fact that he was aware that she had been the one to destroy several Borg cubes that had tried hunting _Voyager_ down since she'd come aboard. She also didn't seem to mind sitting in Astrometrics for hours on end without moving or saying anything, just staring at whatever he or Seven had been working on.

He knew that some of the crew were a little creeped out by the way she would just shimmer into view now and then and the ease with which she would hijack their warp core to send the ship zipping through space. They didn't hate her or anything like that, but she was a little scary when you took into account that she wouldn't acknowledge what she was doing even while she was doing it.

He had tried talking to her a few times only to have her stare at him when she didn't understand the question. Sometimes she would just stare at him anyway as if she were studying him in the same way he knew Seven had done to some of the crew before he'd come aboard. He was slightly hesitant to even imagine what she would be like if she ever met Q-ball.

He shivered slightly and thought about one of the 'sayings' Lieutenant Paris had mentioned about someone 'walking over your grave.'

**122. Green Sheen**

The Borg Queen was slightly annoyed by the quickness of the _Voyager_ ship and its crew. She hadn't been this outmaneuvered in quite a while. In fact, the last time something even close to this had happened was several centuries ago.

A small smile grew on her face. It looked like someone was Activating.

**123. Green Yellow**

The stars around them were silent and the nebulae beautiful, but just as quiet. Where there had been quiet murmurs were now only the slightest whisper of breath. She knew that she was moving further and further away from anything that she had encountered on her mission in finding someone to help her family and knew that she wouldn't be able to jet the ship across space as seemingly recklessly as she had been doing before.

She would actually need to speak with the captain of this vessel before she did so again as she wanted to make sure she knew where she was going and studying the Astrometrics charts were helpful only to a certain point, and she was reaching the point where she wouldn't be able to fully understand them soon.

She was so tired and yet, in the marrow of her bones, she was starting to feel something that she hadn't since she'd been separated from her charge.

She was feeling alive.

**124. Guppie Green**

Maria knew that Hoshi made a lot of the crew nervous. After speaking with Naomi about it, she knew that Naomi's best friend Seven had, had the same problem when she first joined the _Voyager_ crew. Maria wondered how long it would take Hoshi to start creating bonds with the crew like Seven had. She knew that Hoshi would do anything to keep her and the other children. She also knew that, in a way, Hoshi believed that most everyone on this ship were really just children. Very educated children, but children all the same.

She knew this because of how Hoshi was treating the _Voyager_ crew even when she wasn't aware of it. Hoshi was trying to keep them safe, even from herself, though Maria wasn't sure just why she would be afraid of that.

Maria knew that Hoshi felt that she was dangerous, but she had only ever tried to keep Maria and the other children safe. She wondered why Hoshi was afraid of herself, but she was also aware that there was more to Hoshi than Maria knew. Maria wasn't the smartest or even the fastest person mentally, she knew that.

She also knew that she had never been wrong about a person's emotions ever in the entirety of her existence.

**Author's Note:** Hopefully this will be one of the last of the notes. Finally figured out how to get the numbers for the prompts to cooperate.


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note:** I decided to stick a bunch of letter prompts together because otherwise, I was going to end up with at least one chapter with only one prompt and the drabble for it was pathetically small.

**125. Harvest Gold**

The time was coming forward quicker and quicker. The time when all of their preparation would come into fruition.

She knew that their enemies, their soon to be allies and family members were getting help from those that would be able to destroy her and all that she had built.

The Harvesting was upon them, and the Borg would take all that should be theirs.

**126. Heat Wave**

They stared in horrified awe as the shockwave of energy followed them to the edge of the solar system, taking out each of the planets one by one. They were able to get out of the way of the wave, though it was a close call, a much closer call than they had faced in a long time. They had left ships behind, those that had been crippled beyond the point of operation and one that had stayed behind to cause the detonation. They had saved everyone that they could, but they had still suffered great loss.

A loss that they would never really recover from.

The Sol System was no more.

And they had lost their strongest link to their allies, the Guardians.

**127. Hot Magenta**

The loss of the Sol System and their only link to Solaris was horrible, but at the same time, their enemies, the Borg had also taken a major loss. The Borg had moved several dozen, possibly over a hundred cubes into the Sol System and had been in the process of taking over the populations that were there.

Starfleet had been able to evacuate a large number of people, though they hadn't gotten even half of the system's population out before the Borg had arrived. They had, had a couple Guardians on Earth and on Mars and they hoped that they had been able to get to safety along with whoever they were with. The Guardians hadn't all been active, but each planet had, had at least one who was active enough to perform the teleportation over a small enough distance.

Once the horror had fully passed from those in charge, they would be able to find out who, if any, had escaped.

**128. Illuminating Emerald**

When they reached orbit around Tarsus IV, all he could think of was that this was the place that had both started and ended it all for him. This was the place that he had both used the most of his abilities and also the place where he had lost said ability once he had recovered from near death by starvation. He had believed for so long that half of those he had tried to protect had died, that he had failed them all, especially his family.

His mother hadn't been able to handle the loss of her eldest son and the near death of the younger and had fallen ill in such a manner that she hadn't survived long enough to see her son recover enough to start really living again. She had seen the beginning of it, but hadn't been able to hold on much longer than that. His brother had been believed dead and his keeper was gone as well. The only one he had left was a shattered shadow who would not heal herself.

It was only now that he realized that there must have been something more going on that he hadn't known, couldn't have known. He wondered what it was and if Guardian Comet would tell him.

**129. Inchworm**

The Borg had been planning something like those for much longer than the Federation or any of its Alpha Quadrant equivalents were even aware of the former's existence. The Borg had always held this as a back-up plan in case they weren't able to conquer by sheer force. After all, there had been those in the Delta Quadrant that had withstood them for a long time. That they had come to this plan at all was something of a miracle itself, though, as they had only had to use this particular plan once before and that was long lost to any but their own history.

They had started small in the Alpha Quadrant, after all, they were not a stupid race, nor were they naive to think that they would have an easy go of it. No, they were cold and ruthless in how they planned the downfall of their enemies and they perfected their techniques through years of practice and refinement whenever they assimilated a people that had something superior to their own current technology.

They were not hurried, after all resistance was ultimately futile.

**130. Indian Red**

There wasn't a whole lot that they could do about it. They were a lot closer to home than they had thought they would ever realistically get within their own lifetimes. They had several friends they had accrued along the way to thank for that as well as their own abilities. Recently, however…

He looked over at the young woman seated amongst a small gathering of the children that were all now currently aboard the ship. She was a strange young woman and one he didn't really understand no matter how hard he tried to. She didn't bother him over much, not after everything he had been through, but he wasn't really able to communicate very well with her. She seemed to have an even harder time focusing around him than she did just about anybody else, with the exception of the captain.

He wondered just what it was about Kathryn Janeway that seemed to confuse Hoshi.

Chakotay stood and left the Mess Hall, it was almost time for his shift on the bridge. He would put more thought to this at a later time, duty called.

**131. Indigo**

When she met her sister's counterpart she was more than surprised. She was absolutely flabbergasted.

There was really no other word for it, she had checked with Saavil, Maria, Naomi and even Seven and that was the one word that all of them could agree on that was still within the English language. (Or Standard as it was increasingly called now.)

She was both younger and yet older than Hoshi and Suisei, but at the same time she was very different from what they had looked like at that age. For one thing, her other-sister (she was going to call her that until she had found a better name to go by and there was no talking her out of it) didn't have the gold threaded through her eyes the same way Suisei and Hoshi did. Another thing was the color of the eyes themselves.

They were a strange sort of blue-indigo color that reminded Hoshi of what Suisei's eyes had looked like when her mind had been broken for the first time.

This also worried Hoshi, she prayed that her sister was all right back home.

**132. Jade**

She thought about the children of her princess sometimes, the ones that she had actually gotten to know before they had also grown old and died. She specifically remembered a little red-head that had eyes as if they were cut from stone, but still seemed warm enough to give lie to the hardness that they often were taken for. A child that hadn't lived long enough to get to know what falling in love would be like. She remembered the pain that had been in her princess's eyes and heart for years to come, up until the day she died in fact.

She wondered, as she watched the star, the sun that had been her guiding force for so long, if this was what it felt like to see someone that you have watched over through the ages and felt as if they were your own child was destroyed.

She knew then that she would do whatever it took to destroy those that had done this.

The only joy in her life would now be the sorrow of her enemies.

This was her last thought as she channeled everything in her being to saving what few lives she could as the shockwave moved over the sky towards Romulus.

**133. Jasper**

Once they were in contact with those who had been on the surface they were able to start with their business. They made it through all of the obligatory greetings and such. Tom didn't act like he personally knew Jim and Jim didn't act like he personally knew Tom either. They were completely professional and they managed to get through getting the supplies down and having the different meetings and blah, blah, blah.

Jim knew that he should be paying more attention, and he was, on the professional level. On the personal level, he couldn't stop thinking about why they had been told to keep going even when they had sent in a priority message to Starfleet Command about the people they'd picked up. He would feel a lot better about what was going on if he knew more about why.

He did feel a lot better when they were done and he saw Old Spock walking towards him.

**134. Jazzberry Jam**

They were losing; system after system was being taken down. When they were able to, they would destroy what was behind them in order to keep their enemy from gaining any kind of resources that they could use. If they were lucky, they would take out several of the cubes along with the detonations, but at the same time, they knew that they would have to make a stand somewhere.

They spent months planning where and when they would make their stand. They built up blockades and moved people around. They fought and worked on finding any other allies they could drag up. They made peace and treaties and all kinds of compromises with others that they had fought and spent years trying to kill.

It wasn't enough.

**135. Jelly Bean**

Naomi didn't understand why everyone felt so stiff around Hoshi. She was a little young looking compared to a lot of the people on board, but she was a lot like Seven. She was old and young at the same time. She didn't really have anything better to describe it and she knew that no one else really did either. She knew that her mom didn't have anything against her new friends or against her best friend. In fact, she was pretty sure that her mom thought of Seven as family just as much as she did. They didn't really talk about it a lot, but she knew her mother as well as she knew Naomi.

She also knew that Hoshi got along better with Seven and Icheb by sheer force of their ability to stay in one another's presence without having any problems about the silence in the room. She also knew that Icheb was worried about Hoshi in the same way Maria was.

She also saw the way that certain people eyed one another and knew that some of them wouldn't do anything unless their hand was forced.

A lot of the grown-ups on board didn't really understand that Naomi was a very perceptive child. You had to be to really understand half of what went on around the ship and its on-going mission to return to the Alpha Quadrant.

She grinned as she made eye contact with Maria and moved towards her. They had a plan to put into motion.

**136. Jungle Green**

They were slightly surprised when they were contacted by Starfleet Command once again, but not anywhere near as surprised as Starfleet was to learn of the existence of survivors from the Tarsus IV Massacre onboard _Voyager_. They were even more surprised by the reality that the survivors were real and that they weren't a ploy. Something that had been decided through Saavil demanding a mind meld from Tuvok to prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that they were who they said they were.

Maria is the only oddity that they run across as they discover that all of the other survivors are supposed to have been rescued from Tarsus IV by Starfleet and have had their deaths since then very documented. Maria apparently wasn't rescued in time and so they do not know if she is an actual survivor or someone who is using this as an opportunity to slip herself amongst them.

They don't mention this in a way that any of the survivors or Maria will find out. It is kept strictly confidential and between Starfleet Command, Captain Janeway, the Doctor and Commander Chakotay. Commander Tuvok will eventually find out, but wasn't available for the initial meeting about it as he was in command of the bridge at that time. He is the only one who could have stopped the fear from growing.

**137. ****Key Lime Pearl**

Tuvok was slightly surprised, but also not, when he learned of Starfleet Command's concern over Maria. He wasn't sure how to explain it to them, but he did know how to explain it to his captain.

The only problem was he needed to get Maria's permission first.

He hadn't needed to gain permission from Hoshi as she wasn't really capable of making such a decision at that time. Maria was.


	9. Chapter 9

**138. ****Lapis Lazuli**

"What are you suggesting?"

"I'm not suggesting anything; I'm telling you that we can't hold out much longer."

"We've beaten them back before, we can do it again."

"We beat them back before because they weren't throwing everything they had into it."

**139. ****Laser Lemon**

The biggest surprise they had was the fact that she knew how to turn ordinary fruit into something dangerous to everyone and not just those with allergies. When asked about this, she would calmly inform them that she had learned it from the best.

"After all, who's more inventive when it's needed than Earth's Finest?"

They hadn't all understood what she meant by that, but a few had. Maria thought both sets of expressions were hilarious. Lemon juice was a fine substitute for phaser rifles if you had the right amount and a great imagination. That, and phaser lemons were safer for the children to use for some reason. It was generally agreed upon that it was the lack of buttons to distract them.

**140. ****Lavender**

Human culture was strange; they had so many different meanings behind one thing. Flowers, for instance, were believed to have their very own language, but the flowers themselves would often have very contradictory meanings. Such as the plant lavender for example, it meant both distrust and faithfulness.

It was a good thing that stars didn't have these kinds of things to fuss over as Suisei was always being distracted by them. Hoshi had learned rudimentary knowledge about this kind of thing, but that was mainly from following the first reborn Royalty around when she found him. Suisei had found their own princess first and Tobi hadn't been as interested in the language of flowers as Mamoru had been. Which was strange as Suisei was more interested in learning that information than Hoshi was.

**141. ****Leather Jacket**

Jim kept his leather jacket out of everything he owned from his parents. He took it with him when he visited Suisei. He had it with him when he finished university. He even took it to Starfleet Academy and then with him when he became the _Enterprise's_ captain. In fact it was draped across one of the chairs in his cabin right now.

He wore this jacket whenever he was going somewhere important or whenever he commed his mother before her death. He was wearing this jacket when he met Bones and when he took Bones to visit his little girl during Christmas Break at the Academy once.

The jacket used to belong to his father and had been a gift from his mother the day before he had met his keeper. He had been playing with it when he had met Hoshi, even though he hadn't been doing more than stroking it with his fingers as a small child. His mother made sure that he never used it to chew on as a baby. He took good care of it, but he also used it.

What was the point in having something if you weren't going to use it?

**142. ****Lemon**

She could be discrete. She could be discrete like nobody's business. She had managed to hide the fact that she wasn't exactly human for centuries. Or, at least she had after she'd grown up enough (sort of) to understand that the humans that had found her and her sister had already died by the time she had learned how to walk and how to pay attention to people and things around them that didn't give off natural light.

The point was, she was a lot older than anyone around her was right now and she could totally handle things like this that came up.

Just because she was meeting someone who had spent a great deal of time around her kind didn't mean anything.

(She privately agreed that she was going to need help when she'd started spontaneously freezing all the electronics around her. You try re-learning how to control your abilities when you've just seen an integral part of your life destroyed.)

You only get one home planet.

**143. ****Lemon Glacier**

Even though she didn't have the best control over her powers, they were still only lethal to those she wanted to hurt. Because of this, she was often sent out to fight without anyone really needing to watch her back. Her abilities took care of that as they were being directed from instinct alone rather than her conscious control.

This also meant that she had to be picked up by someone who her instincts would recognize as not a threat when she was exhausted. It was really better for everyone that Dr. Leonard McCoy was still alive and able to use the transporters while he talked to her over the comm that he had insisted she use. Anyone else might have had problems taking care of her while she was this mentally unstable.

Her enemies, the Borg, on the other hand, learned just why you don't mess with someone who is the living embodiment of comets and asteroids the galaxy over. Fire and Ice worked in space if you had the right focus.

**144. ****Lemon Lime Zing**

She was shot out of the sky several months later. She had finally been getting her abilities back under her control (she had been getting tired of the number of comms she went through) when the Borg had finally found a frequency that worked against her when she was like this. She had been blasted by the same frequency that had knocked out the communications between the ships several weeks before, but it was more concentrated. It only hit her and the rest of the current attacking fleet was fine.

It didn't kill her, but it did put her out for several days that turned into several weeks while she had to relearn how to walk. It had messed with the workings of her inner ear.

The only good thing that came out of this was that she finally regained control of her mental abilities even if she temporarily lost her physical ones.

Most of the fleet had escaped after that incident, but they had also lost seven ships.

**145. ****Lemon Yellow**

Comet had wanted to go back out and continue fighting after she'd regained her mental abilities, but had acquiesced to her doctor's commands that she wait until she was able to actually use her arms and legs correctly. She wasn't stupid, she knew that it would help her launch and return to the ships better even if she wouldn't have to worry about hitting one of them on accident. She didn't really need physical gestures to control her powers at this point. It was something that she had worked on extensively during the time that Earth had become aware of sentient life on other planets on a global scale.

Now, it was really the only thing she had going for her. Her control of her body seemed to stop at her torso, her arms and legs and even sometimes her neck were just beyond her reach. If she had been anyone else, she'd have been dead. If she'd had any other doctor she'd have months to regain control rather than weeks.

It was a good thing for everyone that Dr. Leonard McCoy wasn't afraid to try crazy treatments, but was also able to consult with other doctors. Julian Bashir was called in to help with her rehabilitation; he brought one of his best friends along with him. Elim Garak was able to save all of their lives when he noticed the Borg moving in on their location and was able to alert the Commander of their station in time to evacuate everyone.

**146. ****Licorice**

Maria liked licorice-flavored things. She guessed that it was slightly because, out of everything that had been able to grow on Tarsus IV anise was one of the few things that had withstood the fungus the best. She would find aniseed whenever she needed to before the fungus, and had actually been able to find some when they were on the run. She decided that everyone should try some and had, had the luck to be carrying some pods on her person when they'd attempted the escape.

She was able to convince Mr. Neelix to let her grow some and was more than willing to share it with anyone and everyone who wanted any. It was good for you after all.

**147. ****Light Blue**

There wasn't whole lot she could do about the young child on her ship. Starfleet Command was worried about her being there and a small part of the captain agreed with them. The rest of her, however, would look at the girl and couldn't help but feel an inherent sadness that cropped up whenever she thought of her father and her first fiancé. There was nothing duplicitous about Maria and Captain Janeway could feel that on a level that she usually ignored. She was a scientist after all.

She was more than thankful that her first officer agreed with her, but he was worried as well. There was really only one way they had available to them to make sure that Maria wasn't anything more than what she seemed.

Somehow, Janeway didn't think Tuvok would be pleased with being asked to do a mental scan on the young human girl, but she didn't have a whole lot of other options at this point.

**148. ****Light Brown**

Maria looked up into Commander Tuvok's brown eyes and smiled, her own lighter brown eyes seemed warm and innocent in a way that a child who had gone through what she had shouldn't be capable of. None of the other children had quite this same look and Tuvok knew that it wasn't just because of the difference between individuals. Maria was special and he knew that she would probably always have this innocence in her eyes.

It went a good ways to help him with what he was going to do.

"Maria, I would like to ask if I may look into your mind."

The young girl bobbed her head, "Sure, Mr. Tuvok! I don't mind at all!"

"Very well then," he placed his fingers along her psy points aware in the back of his mind that Saavil would probably try to kill him if any harm came to her charge, "My mind to your mind, my thoughts to your thoughts."

**149. ****Light Orange**

Her mind was a continuous shifting of colors, though they were mostly light colors there were hints of darker, more troubling colors along the edges. Her mind was child-like in its simplicity, but at the same time he could read the undercurrent of something more just beyond the surface.

He was careful as he moved towards that hidden potential and was unsurprised with what he found.

The reason she hadn't been found in his time was because she had finished dying as her colony dwindled and was never fully recovered. Because she had been saved before she could fully die, it was possible that somewhere in another place that was much like but not the same, Tarsus IV was recovering from the Massacre and the fungus.

She was the beginning of a senshi for that planet, but she would never fully activate in the same way as others had because of the trauma she had undergone.

**150. ****Lightning**

There was a flash of light and then they were gone.

He didn't have more than a moment to wonder just what had gone wrong before others were upon those that were left. A blow to the head was the last thing JT could remember.

**151. ****Lilac**

When Starfleet finally came, it was too late for most of the colony's population, and it seemed as if it was too late for the colony as well. JT wouldn't know for over a decade if this was really true or not. He only had a few others from his once large group left. They went their separate ways for the most part, but always kept in contact with one another as well.

Tom was the first to go back to Tarsus IV and he was also the first to try and rehabilitate the planet. He was not the most successful, but by the time any of the others made it back to the colony as well, he had made what to them was significant progress. Starfleet wasn't so optimistic until the Vulcans started to move there as well. Suddenly the rehabilitation of that colony was top priority for the Federation.

Tom didn't care about the whys or whats, all he cared about was that it was happening at all. He would forever be grateful to the Vulcans he met because of that. He seemed to get along very well with one Vulcan in particular. He hadn't really known what to think about the elderly Vulcan until he had received a response to his message from JT. After that, he was more than willing to work with the Vulcan who gave his name as Selak; JT insisted that he be called Spock though, and Tom would follow JT to the ends of the universe.

Selak didn't really seem to mind over much.

**152. ****Lilac Luster**

Jim commed Gala for a meeting shortly after he had gotten off his duty shift following meeting Guardian Comet. She hadn't been able to answer, so he had left a message in Orion. He knew that it would probably be awhile before she could get back to him. His comming her had been more wishful thinking than actually expecting her to answer, but he couldn't leave her not knowing as soon as she'd be able to learn.

If there were Active Guardians coming around, she would need to know.

**153. ****Lime**

"Why did you want to speak with Ambassador Spock?"

Doctor Bashir smiled tightly, "He is my commanding officer in this region, but I also have important information to deliver to him."

"I'll see what I can do, but I will have to insist on there being a third party present for any meetings with the Ambassador."

"I have no problem with that, I can even speak to him over a comm system if that is preferred, but I must talk with him as soon as possible."

"All right, I'll see what I can do."

**154. ****Lobster Lips**

"That has got to be the worst insult ever."

"It's not like I was really trying-"

"That's not the point and you know it."

"I don't see what the difference makes."

"Jimmy, if you're going to insult people, at least try to make it something that'll stick."

"Yes, Hoshi."

"That's my good boy."

"You could stop treating me like a puppy."

"But where's the fun in that?"

**155. ****Lumber**

It was a good thing that Vulcan was so large. It could handle the influx of occupants fairly well, and the Vulcans themselves were willing to work with those who were now joining them on their home world. There were some problems, but that was only to be expected when trying to mix two races that had been at each other's throats for so long.

What helped the most was that most of the Romulans that had survived were willing to work with the Vulcans in creating a new home for themselves. They still worried and fought and didn't always get along, but it was more like how family who have been distant from one another and were trying to get reacquainted because they had to than anything else.

She resisted it the most. She wanted vengeance and she couldn't really go and get it when she was stuck on this desert planet trying to live with pacifists. That started to change when she met him.


	10. Chapter 10

**156. ****Macaroni and Cheese**

"…"

"What?"

"…Are we really going to have this?"

"Is there something wrong with it?"

"No! Of course not!"

A look of disbelief.

"Well, all right. I don't really care for it, but if this is what you want, we'll have it."

"It is what I want."

A sigh, "Fine."

A smile, "Thanks."

They sat at the table and made eye contact as they ate their very simple meal. Maybe there was hope for their future after all? How hard could the rest of this courtship be if they were able to compromise?

**157. ****Magenta**

It turned out that they were able to have a meeting down on the planet with Ambassador Spock. Captain Kirk came, along with his first officer and chief medical officer and several security officers. Doctor Bashir's entire group came down and they were most surprised by the condition of the planet.

"Is something wrong, gentleman, ladies?"

"We are on Tarsus IV?"

Kirk tensed slightly, "Yes."

"Where we come from, the Tarsus IV colony was never able to be fully revived. Attempts were made, but each ultimately failed. I believe there is a Federation outpost on the planet itself, but any more than that wouldn't work for some reason."

Kirk glanced at Guardian Comet who remained stoic. "I see."

**158. ****Magenta Mix-Up**

Ambassador Spock was surprised to see them, that much was clear. He led them into his dwelling and they gathered in the common room where there were enough chairs, even if only just.

"How is it that you have followed me, Doctor?"

"Ambassador, I am glad to see that you are here and the same Ambassador that we have been looking for."

They settled into chairs and couches with the exception of the cyborg woman and the security detail. She remained standing until everyone else was seated before finally sitting herself. Her back remained stiff as she took over the conversation.

"Ambassador, the Borg are the reason behind the destruction of Romulus' star system."

**159. ****Magic Mint**

The slow grin that had taken time to creep across the Queen's face was wiped away in an instant and her face contorted into a snarl as she watched the massive fleet of cubes and spheres that she had sent to the Sector 01 were completely obliterated by the destruction of the star in that system. She was enraged as she watched the oncoming energy wave that was also disrupting her cubes' abilities to engage their propulsion systems for some strange reason. That had been a colossal force that she had lost and it looked like she would never get to fully assimilate the humans as their home world was now lost to her.

However…

It was also now lost to them as well. That, at least, was a positive outcome from this situation for her. While she did not need emotions, she knew that they were important to other races, especially to humans. Yes, this was a good thing for her and it wasn't like she couldn't get more drones.

She sent more cubes out to assimilate other worlds in parts of the Alpha and Delta Quadrants. It didn't matter if they did not have warp-capability yet. She needed the drones.

**160. ****Magic Potion**

The energy that they used was so different, so foreign to anything that science could understand that it was often referred to as 'magic' even when it really wasn't. At least, not in the way that most of the western world considered magic. Eastern magic was closer, but that too wasn't exactly right either. What they had, what they were, was the essence of the energies that were threaded throughout life itself, just expressing it in different ways. They were very different from 'regular' people because they just were. There was something about them that made it easier to access those energies, even make them a part of themselves.

Not everyone can Activate, as it is called, because not everyone can handle the surge that comes with such a thing. Some are able to sense things, have abilities that aren't considered normal but not be fully Activated. That isn't to say that there aren't people who have abilities without being one of any of the Lines. There will be people with abilities very similar to those found in the Lines without actually being of them.

Then, there are those amongst the Guardians that are more than the others. Those that will exist for longer than a normal or even extended lifetime. Those that are different and can only die when they are killed and they are very hard to kill.

Sometimes these people can only gain such ability, the immortal life unless killed when they Activate. There are others who don't have that luxury of choice.

**161. ****Mahogany**

The trees were the first things to start coming back, they were what really gave Tom hope that he could save this planet, that the colony wasn't as lost as most of his peers believed it was. He knew that he was believed to be slightly unhinged regarding this issue, but it wasn't something that he could give up. The only ones who really supported him in this were the few that had escaped with him and a few well-placed Federation officials.

His greatest allies both before and after the Nero Incident were Vulcans as well as a certain Admiral Archer. The Vulcans had been slightly explanatory, to Tom at least even if others didn't understand why. Admiral Archer was a bit of a mystery at first, but once Tom had looked through the list of victims of the Massacre, he wasn't confused anymore.

Now, though, now he had just about everyone wanting him to succeed at revitalizing the dead colony. He was even more surprised when he learned that, in another universe, the Tarsus IV Colony had never recovered even though it was doing so now. He would have been more interested in that little fact if he had actually cared a lot about that kind of thing. He didn't.

**162. ****Maize**

"What do you mean they have taken Cardassia Prime?"

"Bajor is still safe, but Cardassia Prime has been taken by the Borg. We were unable to evacuate everyone, but we did get the children off of the planet before we lost contact. We don't know if anyone else made it."

**163. ****Malachite**

"Are you telling me that you were created by stealing the genetic material of people that were nothing more than friends?"

"My 'mother,' for lack of a better term, stole the material from two friends that were engaged to other people. They did not know that my sister and I were created and, ultimately, their children. We are children of two people who did not have the choice nor the desire to have children with one another. They weren't even aware of our existence for most of their lives."

**164. ****Manatee**

She loved learning about the different planets that _Voyager_ had been to and learned about. It was probably her favorite part of the day and she knew that the other children were enjoying those lessons as well. They weren't what caught her attention this time, though.

She moved away from where the Doctor was teaching about first aid (again, they seemed to need this lesson more than once, especially about different parts) and towards the side of Sick Bay that held the morgue. She was caught before she could more than place her hand on the handle of one of the cupboards and pulled away. The Doctor chastised her for wandering off during the lesson and she apologized for it.

She didn't forget the feeling that there was something or someone in that room that she needed to find, though.

**165. ****Mandarin Pearl**

Hoshi thought about Suisei every day, though she wasn't always aware of what was happening to her sister. She could feel that Suisei had dampened their bond in an effort to protect herself as well as their charges. She knew the reasoning was sound, but at the same time something seemed…off about the situation. Almost like there was some kind of film between the two of them that was making it harder than usual to not only dampen the bond but to feel the bond at all.

Hoshi was afraid of what that would mean, even though she knew that there was nothing she could do about it.

**166. ****Mango Tango**

He knew that things were moving, things were always moving. Life didn't just stop and stand still, no matter what people thought about it. Yet he also knew that he wouldn't be able to make too many more…_interruptions_ for lack of a better word. For one thing he was well aware that he wasn't going to be forgiven for letting things get this far once his darling little pets found out about it.

And he knew that they would find out. They always found out the things that he didn't want them to. It was how things worked.

They would find out even faster if his darling _niece_ wasn't able to keep her mouth shut about why she was poking around the Alpha Quadrant.

**167. ****Maroon**

"Today is a good day to die?"

"Is there something wrong with that saying?"

"I just always wondered why it was so important."

"For me, it means that you have done everything you can and that there is nothing more that you can do. You are ready to give the last thing you have to the fight; your life."

**168. ****Maui Sunset**

He had made sure everyone else on his ship was transported off before setting in the course. If he was going to go out, then he was darn well going to take everyone with him that he could and save those that he didn't want to take with him. In his mind, he replayed the memory of his small family watching the last sunset before he had to leave for duty.

The only ones missing from that picture were his brother and his keeper, but he would see them soon enough.

**169. ****Mauvelous**

She wasn't there when he went down. She wasn't there when his son watched as his father gave his life for them to all escape.

Just like she wasn't there when her sister did the same.

She was somewhere far away, trying to find more allies. She had been sent away from her prince, from her responsibility and now all she had were ashes and a toddler who wouldn't ever know his father just as he wouldn't know his mother. She swore that she would find a way for him to know is uncle if it killed her.

**170. ****Meat Brown**

It was a long time before any of them were able to eat meat of any kind, but especially meat that was brown in any shape or form. They had no problem eating fruits or vegetables or anything else, as long as it hadn't been an animal of some kind. They couldn't even handle fish. The man in charge of their nutrients was understanding in a way that wasn't patronizing. This seemed to surprise so many of the people on board the ship that was now their home.

However Mr. Neelix had come by the knowledge and empathy that he employed, Sam didn't care. All he cared about was that Mr. Neelix had it and was using it for a good cause without really wanting anything in return.

He could trust the man to not abuse their trust.

**171. ****Melon**

The humans were lucky with their first contact. There were worlds that weren't so fortunate.

This was all that the captain of _Voyager_ could think of when she came upon a planet that wasn't even close to warp technology and saw the remains that the Borg had left behind.

**172. ****Metallic Seaweed**

She didn't like the restrictions that they had placed on her usage of the warp core. She really didn't like how they would stop her from getting that far by having some of the children, particularly Maria and Naomi, accompany her throughout the day. She really didn't like how her sister's charge backed them up on it.

"But I could get everyone home so much faster!"

"At the cost of your own life? No, the answer will be no every time you ask."

"But-!"

"When we are in over our heads and there is nothing we can do, such as we were with the Borg, then I will comm you and let you know that you are allowed to do so," the captain's voice was steady, "However, you will only push yourself as far as we have already discussed. I will not have a member of my crew kill themselves when we have other options open. This is not negotiable. You are a member of my crew now and that makes you my responsibility."

**173. ****Metallic Sunburst**

It was very strange when they came across an older version of herself, thought Kathryn. She hadn't ever thought about meeting another version of herself before, even though she was aware that it was possible. She was still surprised to come face to face with Admiral Janeway, that didn't mean she was going to let the woman tell her what to do.

"I am not going to risk this ship by doing what you want me to do."

"It's the only way-"

They were interrupted by the ship jumping into faster than speed light. The admiral looked shocked, as if she didn't understand what was happening. The captain, on the other hand, looked more than a little irritated.

"Tuvok, send security down to Engineering as well as to Sick Bay. Torres, eject Hoshi from the core!" she barked into her comm unit as she moved to leave her ready room. The admiral followed her.

**174. ****Midnight Blue**

She took much longer to wake than she had previously. Captain Janeway was partially certain that part of the reason for that was Hoshi's need to avoid answering what had prompted her to go against every restriction that had been placed on her. Janeway was going to find out just what had been going on in that woman's mind.

_Voyager_ had travelled over one thousand light years in a matter of minutes, much faster and further than almost any other time that Hoshi had pushed the warp core since they had been made aware of her presence on the ship. Captain Janeway wanted to know why, and Hoshi was going to answer her questions just as soon as she woke up.

The admiral seemed at a loss for Hoshi's presence on _Voyager_, almost as if she had never met her before.

**175. ****Midnight Pearl**

Admiral Janeway was surprised with the new additions to _Voyager's_ crew. She hadn't picked up any children like this and she certainly hadn't met any Guardians or even known about them existing. They were already too far away from the nebula she had been trying to convince her younger self into going to. She didn't let that stop her from giving the captain everything she had on anything in the Delta Quadrant while the admiral tried to work herself through the shock.

She had meant to go back to her own past, but it seemed as if she had stumbled into something else. She wasn't sure just how that had happened.

**176. ****Milky Way**

Seven of Nine wasn't in a relationship with Commander Chakotay, she hadn't even spoken with him outside of work for the longest time. She was slightly surprised when she discovered that the admiral thought they were more to each other than they were.

This more than anything should have tipped off the admiral that something was different even though she had gone over the calculations again and again and yet still hadn't found out how she had ended up in a different timeline. She _should be_ in her own past, but none of this made sense! It was going to drive her crazy!

Then she met Maria and taking one look at the child playing with Naomi Wildman and Admiral Janeway knew that she was in her own past, but that something had already changed it before she could have gotten there. Why the changes didn't affect her was the new mystery. It would be several months before they found out what it was. For a long while, the admiral was certain that it was Maria, but when she brought this up to her younger counterpart and Commander Tuvok, she was informed that it wasn't the girl at all.

But it was something to do with her, the admiral was certain of it.

**177. ****Misty Moss**

The picture was all blurry, she wasn't sure why that was important, but it was. She squinted her eyes and tried to make out something more than just colors, but couldn't get her eyes to cooperate. She would have to rely on her other senses then.

The ground was damp and the smell of dirt was thick in the air as if she had been digging a hole that was more pit than anything else. It was cold and she couldn't hear anything other than the drip, drip, drip of condensation dripping off of some kind of building to her right.

She was so alone.

**178. ****Mixed Vegetables**

Sam enjoyed being in Mr. Neelix's company, enjoyed learning how to cook and such with him. He became Mr. Neelix's assistant in just about everything save his ambassadorial duties and he couldn't have been happier. He chopped vegetables and learned how to make desserts and full course meals. He grew happier and more alive as the days past. He spent time in Mr. Neelix's company outside of the kitchen.

Sam wondered if this was what having a father was like.

**179. ****Monkey Breath**

Hoshi was learning to get along as a part of the crew. She still had slight difficulties as there wasn't really very much she could contribute at this point that wasn't directly correlated to how far or how fast she could push the ship's propulsion systems. She didn't really have any other expertise outside of her duties as a Guardian, but most of the Guardians in this Quadrant seemed to be dormant other than the ones she'd already passed. She knew that she had other skills, but she was still trying to recover from the forced separation from her other half as well as recovering from how hard she had pushed herself to find help. Doing both of those things after having lived through the Tarsus IV Massacre really didn't help either.

She would speak with Sam about it, but he was starting to recover, finally starting to move on. He wasn't as connected to Suisei as Hoshi was connected to Jim. Suisei was dampening the connections between all of them, of that Hoshi was certain. Suisei was killing herself and though she was trying to protect Hoshi and their boys from it, you couldn't fully hide what one side of the brain was doing to the other. Not without completely destroying the connection in the first place and Suisei wouldn't be able to do that alone.

Instead Hoshi went to the two people that had the best chance of helping her: Commander Tuvok and Saavil.

**180. ****Moonstone**

The Lunar family was not one that had lasted very long as its own Line after the deaths of the original re-founding members. The Lunar family had immediately mixed in with the Earth Line, though that really didn't surprise anyone. What surprised those in the know the most was the mixing of those two Lines with the Vulcan Line.

This was what explained the need for the two Lines to be a part of each planet's history in such a large way. The first Vulcan-Human hybrid being both the continuation and ultimately end of those Lines. Neither Line were aware of what they were by the time they came into contact with one another was the most surprising outcome.

The Vulcan Star Line wasn't like this at all. They remained aware of who and what they were for far longer than most of the Sol System Lines and other Lines that came about as well.

Only one person from the Vulcan Line remained aware of what they were, but they were also so far removed from that Line's knowledge that most of the Line wasn't even aware that they were really just a Branch from the Line. How else did Surak gain such acclaim and influence amongst his people without being from the Branch of the Vulcan Line?

**181. ****Mountain Meadow**

Sam was out on one of the foraging missions with Mr. Neelix and the rest of the away team. He hadn't gotten off of the ship a whole lot since he'd come aboard and he knew that part of that reason was because the Doctor wasn't sure if he would be a suicide risk or not. He was honest enough with himself by this point to realize that their fears had a solid base in reality for that time. He wasn't having the same problems anymore, though, and for that he was grateful to the people who had saved him.

He was absolutely surprised when he turned around, intending to show Mr. Neelix the fruit that he had found and instead found a human male wearing a captain's uniform staring at him instead.

**182. ****Mucus**

Maria had come down with a cold and nothing the Doctor did seemed to help her out. She was miserable and confined to her quarters and only allowed out when she was going to the Doctor for a check-up.

It was very lucky for everyone that somehow Commander Tuvok was present when she was being taken there or they wouldn't have found out about his illness so soon and it would have caused some problems. As it was, he was able to be diagnosed and then cured because Maria and Saavil were in the Sick Bay at the same time he came down to speak with the Doctor about the memory problems he was starting to have.

Saavil being a blood relative helped as well.

**183. ****Mulberry**

Maria took to following the admiral around whenever she was able to. This both endeared her to the admiral and annoyed the same woman. Maria wouldn't answer Naomi's question about whether or not she was doing this on purpose or if she just really liked the admiral. Maria insisted that Naomi follow along with her whenever she could and Naomi was surprised to discover that though the admiral and the captain were essentially the same person, they were also very different from one another.

It wasn't in the big things, oh no, it was in the small things. And in the end, wasn't it the small things that mattered the most?

**184. ****Mummy's Tomb**

Comet knew that this was a different place and time, knew that these people were not the people that she had watched grow and live and die. That didn't stop her heart from freezing in her chest when she noticed something that should, by all rights, not exist this early in any time.

A Borg cube was making its way to the ship she was in, and the _Enterprise_ was woefully unprepared for it.

**185. ****Mystic Maroon**

The swirling energies that seemed to feed off of the man in front of him didn't really register in Sam's mind; they wouldn't really do that until much later, long after he'd returned to _Voyager_. For the moment he just stared at the man, knowing that he didn't belong but that he also didn't seem to register as a threat. The man seemed to smirk at him a little wider when that last thought crossed Sam's mind.

"Don't worry," the man said, "Everything is going to work out, at least it should, but one can never really tell when it comes to humans. Still," and here he held up a finger as if making a point, "I believe that they will come out on top after all."

With that, he vanished in a quick flash of white light.

**186. ****Mystic Pearl**

Captain Janeway was not pleased when she learned the Q had been visiting one of her new crew members and was even more confused when she was told what he had said. She wondered what he meant by it, but knew that she probably wouldn't find out what it was until Q wanted her to. Still, it was irritating; the only thing worse that could come up would be a fleet of Borg cubes which, thankfully, hadn't happened in a more than half a year by this point.

She went ahead and finished installing the upgrades to _Voyager_ that the admiral had brought with her and even made sure to spend a little time every day studying some of the information that her future counterpart provided them with. The admiral herself seemed more than content to interact with the crew even if she was starting to be referred to as 'Janie.' A name that was given to her by Maria and backed up by Naomi and the rest of the children on board. 'Janie' worked wherever the captain asked her to, but seemed to gravitate more towards the sciences anyway.

All in all, things were looking pretty good for one lost Starfleet ship in the Delta Quadrant.


	11. Chapter 11

**187. Navy Blue**

The ambassador looked startled, "What do you mean?"

"Romulus's star shouldn't have destroyed Romulus that early, we should have had time to evacuate the planet and its neighboring planet before the energy wave reached them. The Borg are what detonated the star prematurely. You were right, your calculations were correct."

"Why? The Borg have always wanted to assimilate everything, not destroy it."

**188. Neon Carrot**

Carrots are funny things to most children. They are either loved or hated or, sometimes, in between. Carrots are a lot like beets, you either love them or you hate them. There is very little middle ground when it comes to root vegetables with bright colors. Carrots were also a very hardy vegetable and would grow if given the proper space and water. They didn't seem to require as much sun and needed to be stored in a cool, dry place.

Thus it was carrots that mainly acted as a food supply to the people of _Voyager_ when they weren't living off of Leola roots. If they hadn't been doing so before they had taken aboard the Alpha Quadrant children then they certainly were before the year was out. Saavil had strong opinions on carrots and you would eat them if they were available to you.

**189. New Car**

The car wasn't new by any stretch of the imagination, but it didn't really matter in the scheme of things. It was gone now anyway, destroyed at the bottom of the quarry. It didn't have a little boy with it, though, and in the end that was the most important part to Frank.

It didn't stop him from calling up his sister and demanding that Jimmy go to someone else for a while so that he could have a _long_ time to calm down. He wouldn't ever really forgive himself for that call. Not when Jimmy came back without his brother and far too thin.

Frank drank himself into an early grave, but he never hit his nephew nor did he rant at him. Everything the man owned was left to his sister and her son, including the new car that he had gotten as a replacement before he'd heard the news about Tarsus IV. It was a blue convertible instead of a red one.

**190. Ocean Blue Pearl**

She had been alive for a very long time and she knew that she would more than likely be alive for even more time to come. She would be watching those she cared about grow from birth to death and all that happened in between. Sometimes she wondered what it would be like to be that person, to grow old and find someone who you wanted to take with you on that journey that you only get once.

She wondered if she would have gone for it if she had ever had the option to do so.

**191. Ocean Green Pearl**

Hoshi knew that Suisei wanted a different life. She was her other half after all, and they had been together for far longer than either of them really knew. They hadn't always been able to tell time, and when they finally had learned their concept of time wasn't the same as anyone else's.

The point was, Suisei wanted to experience life the way they had watched countless others do so, but she would never really get the chance to do so. Not while they were connected the way they were, it would be disastrous for either of them to even try. Hoshi didn't feel alone because of this, though, but sometimes Suisei did.

**192. Off-Road**

She knew that he would hate her for this that he would never forgive her, but it was something that she had to do. She had given everything she had and beyond that, but even stars have their ending point where they have no more energy to burn and needed to go out. She wasn't a star, but she had reached her limit.

Suisei closed her eyes as she felt the black hole open up and devour the planet that had tried to succor her in her time of need and with the last of her strength, she sent several people whose life forces she could still feel up onto the ship floating above the dying planet.

And then she was gone.

**193. Ogre Odor**

The Queen smiled as she watched another star system fall to her drones. The Alpha Quadrant would be hers and she would be several steps closer to perfection. The human race could only run so fast before they would inevitably trip and fall into her waiting hands.

No one would stand in her way.

**194. Olive Green**

Vulcan was fast becoming more than just a refuge, it was becoming one of the few systems that they were able to defend and actually keep rather than losing to the Borg or losing it to a star's desperate destruction. It helped that it was one of the few systems that had their Star's Line semi-active and definitely prolific. They knew who and what they were and they had been training what little abilities that were active. Some of their Line had joined Starfleet and others had joined the Vulcan Science Academy. Those that didn't join either still made their way through life doing whatever it was that came naturally to them.

They were a close-knit group, even for Vulcans, and one of the abilities was an increase in their natural-born telepathy. They were able to communicate with one another even if they weren't within several hundred meters of whomever they were talking to. Not everyone had that far a distance and no one had a distance that was farther than their own star system, but it was enough to coordinate defenses for their home world and home system.

They didn't have much contact with other Lines and were aware that the Vulcan Planet Line had been dormant for almost as long as they had known humans on a person-to-person business. This changed when it became obvious what the Borg were up to, though the obviousness wasn't brought into clear focus until several years after the destruction of the Romulus star system.

**195. Onyx**

She was in a black rage and she didn't want to leave it. Her planet, her family, her very _soul_ seemed to be nothing but ashes floating in space. She was alone and though she had been able to save a few, she hadn't been able to save anyone that was of real importance to her. Her sister and her soon-to-be niece or nephew was gone. Her parents and any cousins, her brother-in-law still hadn't been found.

She was alone and she had no problem with that as long as she was allowed to destroy whatever it was that had taken her life from her.

She did not appreciate the man that had come into her life and saved her. She fought against him every step of the way and then some. She railed and ranted at him, physically attacked him and did everything she could to destroy what self-worth he had.

He took it all and didn't stop coming back to her. He reached out and gentled her rage, but he did not wipe it completely away. He helped her to find out who it was that had taken _everything_ and when the real perpetrator was discovered, he fought side by side with her to destroy them.

Romulus wasn't alone because Vulcan had opened his arms and welcomed her home.

**196. Oozing Ogre**

They needed help and they were at their wit's end on where to find it. The alliances that they had made with people in the Alpha Quadrant, the Delta Quadrant and even the Gamma Quadrant were only able to help so much. There needed to be somewhere they could send their civilians so that they would be safe. Nowhere seemed safe enough and if they thought it was then they were quickly proved wrong.

Someone, most people couldn't even remember who, provided the idea that they could send their civilians to another region of space that the Borg wouldn't be able to touch, but that left only two places that the higher ups could think of. One of them was the fluid space that Species 8472 lived in and the other was the Mirror Universe that members of Starfleet and Deep Space Nine had been to. The first wasn't really an option as they still hadn't been able to do more than agree to a cease-fire and neutrality with the beings from fluidic space. The second wasn't really believed to be a stable enough environment for their families. No one really wanted to trust people who had stabbed them in the back time and time again with their children.

That was when someone, mostly those who had been to the Mirror Universe, brought up the question about whether the children found by _Voyager_ in the Delta Quadrant came from the original Mirror Universe that most everyone was aware of or if they came from a different one entirely.

**197. Orange**

Oranges were on of the few foods that Jim would eat no matter what time of day it was and what was currently happening in his life. Apples were for victories and when he thought he was being particularly clever. Grapes were for when he was sick and actually admitting to it. He couldn't have pears at all because he was allergic and the same for kiwis and more melons.

Oranges were something that he would eat because he liked them and not because they had some kind of symbolic meaning for him. It was probably one of the few foods that didn't have some kind of meaning for him, whether it was a reminder of something or because he was allergic to it.

He figured that being friends with such awesome people as he had come to be with his senior bridge crew was probably the closest he would ever get to that feeling outside of oranges and the family that he had lost before he met most of his new family.

He liked oranges because he could actually choose to do so. The same could be said about his new family, he chose to care about them and the same was true for them. They didn't have to like him, but they chose to and that made all the difference.

**198. Orange Red**

"Why would you think that they aren't from the Mirror Universe? We are all well aware that they aren't from our own timeline."

"When we asked them about where they came from, they said that they were members of the Federation. In the Mirror Universe it wasn't referred to as the Federation, it was the Empire."

**199. Orange Soda**

Quark wasn't one of the people that rejoiced when Cardassia Prime fell. In fact, there weren't many people that _did_ rejoice at that. Not even the Bajorans rejoiced or felt any kind of satisfaction over it. The Borg had assimilated the entire planet and was even now working its way down and through the other planets in what used to be Cardassian space.

The Cardassian people and anyone else who had lived in that region of space had fled to the closest system that they could reach, the Bajoran system. They had been desperate and hadn't really expected to be taken in by those that they had so cruelly subjugated, but they were surprised. There were those that didn't want them there that put up protests and performed scare tactics, but in the end most of the Bajoran people seemed willing to, if not forget the past than at least to forgive it enough to help the fleeing Cardassians.

There weren't a whole lot of them that had escaped and in fact entire households had been assimilated down to the youngest of the children. It was that more than anything else that brought compassion to the Bajoran people's hearts.

Business was good for Quark with all the new people, but at the same time it was bad, because there wasn't a lot of money available to the refugees. They had been more concerned with getting their families out than grabbing their gold-pressed latinum.

**200. Orange Yellow**

Bajor was, surprisingly, one of the few systems that weren't in any of the direct paths that the Borg took on their march through various parts of the Alpha Quadrant. Many of the Bajorans put this down to the mercy of the Prophets whilst those that weren't of the Bajoran religion put it down to their planet not really being an important player in the Quadrant.

Both sides were partially true, but it was also true, though not widely known, that the Dominion, what was left of it, also placed ships along the Bajoran system's border that would take care of any Borg ships that would come. It helped that Bajor had a representative with the Founders of the Dominion that helped them ally with the Federation, even if they weren't able to commit enough resources to protect anymore territory than the Bajoran system at the moment.

The Borg had never assimilated any people from the Dominion and so didn't have a lot of knowledge of their technology.

**201. Orchid**

The Trills were another of the planetary systems that were able to withstand the Borg, though this was more because of the Federation's desperation to protect the joined peoples of that planet. Starfleet knew that they wouldn't be able to hold off the Borg indefinitely and the Trills were aware of that as well. They used the time during their blockade against the Borg to evacuate the planet. It was one of the few planets where they were able to fully evacuate everyone and everything that was of value.

It would not be the last planet where they were able to do that, but that number would still remain small against the sheer force and numbers of the Borg.

**202. Orchid Pearl**

"We're losing ground and we're losing it fast. The Dominion can't really do much more than protect Bajoran space and it's too late for them to do anything for Cardassia Prime unless we're able to take it back, which would entail killing all of the Borg in that region of space."

"That doesn't look too likely."

"If all else fails, the Dominion have volunteered to move everyone in the Bajoran system through the wormhole and give them sanctuary in the Gamma Quadrant."

"I'm not going to run away!"

"Leave the Alpha Quadrant? The only way to stop the Borg from following would be to destroy the wormhole!"

"The Bajorans would never allow that!"

"People! This is just one option of many back-up plans that we have to have ready in case they are needed! The Borg aren't going to disappear or even run back to the Delta Quadrant with the way their going about things! We have to think of the civilians and our children before we can think of our pride. Even the Klingons agree with me on this!"

**203. Outer Space**

She looked around in awe at the landscape. Stars and darkness as far as the eye could see and then a little bit further than that as she could actually see pretty far when she was in outer space. She hadn't been up here in a long time, not since she'd started paying attention to the people on Earth. Not since she'd found her princess to be honest.

The space pollution was being taken care of as the people of Earth starting paying attention to what was overhead as well as underfoot and the effects were breathtaking.

It was while she was up there one time that she noticed the passing of a space ship at the edges of the solar system. She shifted herself until she wasn't visible to the naked eye and several other radars, though she would still show up on energy sensors. She wanted a closer look at what was out there. She'd need to tell her sister all about it when she returned.

**204. Outrageous Orange**

"What do you mean she's a genetic marker for your family?"

"I mean, I was doing a little research on these new additions to our little end of the galaxy and so I ran what little material through the computer that I could get and that cyborg woman is related to me. If she's really from some other future, then she's probably my great granddaughter or something like that."

"Huh. Do you think she got the machine parts from your side of the family or your evil ex-wife's?"

"Jim, this is not a joking matter."

"All right, all right, don't be such a grump."


	12. Chapter 12

**205. Pacific Blue**

There wasn't a whole lot they could do but go forward. She knew that telling them everything wasn't going to go over well, but if they were going to get the help that they needed, then she needed to suck it up and 'spill the beans' no matter how messy it was or how much would be crushed.

That included telling them about what happened to those Borg that were once Guardians.

**206. Pale Rose**

Solaris was always kind to them and didn't ask them to give any more than she would give of herself. She was a lot like Princess Serenity in that regard, but at the same time she was completely different. For one thing, Solaris was a lot more independent than Serenity had ever been, past or present. Another thing was the fact that Solaris was as much her title as her actual name and that it wouldn't always be her title if she had been the younger sister. The elder was usually Solaris, whether they were male or female and the second child would be the General who oversaw the system's defense and the connections with the other Guardians throughout the Quadrant.

It was possible to inherit the title if the elder died without leaving issue or if the issue wasn't active enough. Sometimes you could abdicate the title, though that didn't happen as often.

The Lunar Line was often with only a single heir, always a female. The Sol Line wasn't like that at all.

Solaris was also the ultimate reason that Suisei had been set on the path to healing that first time her mind broke so long ago. It had required so much energy that it had almost killed Solaris before she'd even had her first child. Suisei and Hoshi agreed that from that moment on, they would learn how to shield such circumstances from their princess and their subsequent charges. To them, it wasn't worth the life of their princess.

They had seen what happened to the ones remaining when a princess died with the Lunar Line and the senshi that were sworn to protect the Princess Serenity. They had no wish to live like that themselves.

**207. Peach**

The day Solaris was married was the happiest day of her life and she was glowing with happiness that they hadn't seen since everything, their battles against Solaris's traitorous aunt and the allies she had found in those who were against the White Moon Kingdom were defeated. The only day that was even close to this day was the day that Serenity had finally married her reborn Endymion as they had wanted since the Silver Millennium.

Solaris was dressed in white with soft peach-colored veils drawn over her face and hair that could not hide the joy in her blue eyes. Her groom was just as handsome in his black suit with a peach blossom tucked into his lapel to go along with the bouquet of cherry, peach and pear blossoms and light pink rose buds scattered throughout. She had her Guardians stand up with her and Jack had given her away before he'd had to return to his own timeline.

She was incandescent and to Hoshi and Suisei the only thing that would have trumped her joy would be the first time she held each of her children.

She had her family as she's always wanted and her Guardians, though they would never feel that joy, would never begrudge her it.

**208. Peaches 'n Cream**

Jim loved peaches and cream as a kid, what he didn't like was the resulting rush to the emergency room.

Hoshi was kind of down when he came back and it took him the better part of a week (when he wasn't sleeping) to discover it was because she'd been the one to give him the treat in the first place. No matter what he said, she wouldn't stop blaming herself. He wouldn't understand why until Tarsus IV, but by then he wasn't able to talk with her about it anyway.

**209. Pearly Purple**

Her crystal didn't shatter or do anything when she died; it stayed as bright as it had before with the exception of it dulling just a little bit. Almost as if it wouldn't shine as brightly without the bright soul that Solaris had held. It had gone to her eldest child, a girl, who had held it throughout her life before passing it on to her eldest child, also a girl. It continued this way for a good many centuries with the only differences being it moving to sons just as easily as to daughters. The shine didn't dull any more, but it did not shine the way it had before either.

Almost one hundred years before the first contact with the Vulcans, the crystal disappeared.

**210. Peridot**

When she was older and one of her charges was interested in the mythology regarding different gem stones, she took a moment to wonder just why her princess's crystal had been purple and not the evening green of a peridot. She was sunshine personified and the princess of the life and light of their star system, yet the stone that was believed to trap rays of sunlight wasn't her sailor crystal.

She wondered about that, but for the most part, she was fascinated with all the parts that Earth humans got _right_ rather than all that they got wrong.

**211. Periwinkle**

Neelix was more than happy to act as surrogate father to the new arrivals; in fact, it helped him feel complete on a level that he hadn't been aware he needed. Sam was the last to turn to him, but when he did, he didn't do it half-way.

Later when Neelix had time to look up the records for the Kirks he wasn't surprised in the least. It seemed that these boys were the type to do everything with all that they were. The few times that there were records of them not throwing their all into it always ended in failure. That didn't mean that it happened an awful lot.

**212. Pewter Blue**

"We need to get to Starfleet Command as soon as possible."

"Good thing for you that I happen to have the fastest ship in the fleet."

"The _Delta Flyer_ has a superior propulsion system, however we will require character witnesses to back up our claim."

"Did you just dis my _Enterprise_?"

**213. Piggy Pink**

"I don't know what Captain Kirk has promised you, but-"

"I didn't promise anything I am unable to fulfill."

"Kirk-"

"These are just as much our people as they are anything else. One of their number came to warn us and several others have actually saved several of our vessels at great cost to themselves. That isn't even mentioning the fact that the majority of the refugees are Vulcans, which we are in dire need of to boost the population of Vulcans that we have remaining from the Nero Incident."

"From what I understand, Nero is a criminal from their side of the universe."

For the first time since she'd entered the room, Guardian Comet stepped forward. "May I have the privilege to address the Council?"

The members of the Federation Council, which included the ranking Admirals of Starfleet, shared several glances before Admiral Beckett nodded his ascent, "You may."

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I wonder if you are aware of an organization known galaxy-wide as the Guardians of the Universe?"

Most of the Council nodded, though many were looking as if they were confused about the relativeness of this line of questioning.

"Are any of you aware of what can happen with a Guardian Bonds with another?" another nod was given, "Are you aware of what happens to a Guardian when their celestial body is destroyed?"

"Are you implying that Nero was a Guardian?"

"Not at all, he was bonded to a Guardian who died when the star that gave her planet light was destroyed and then the energy wave destroyed the planet with Nero's bonded on it. She was also pregnant."

There was silence throughout the chamber.

**214. Pine**

"So how long are we going to have to wait around for a meeting with the Council?"

"Do we really have to wait for a full Council in order to present our-"

"If we want to get full support for our problem and be able to bring all of our refugees here with us, then yes, we do have to wait for a full Council meeting to be in service. We are lucky that we were able to request the meeting with so many high ranking people backing our claim of need or we'd have been cooling our heels a lot longer."

"I'm still jazzed about the fact that we're actually visiting the cabin of James Tiberius Kirk!"

"…Julian, don't ever change."

**215. Pine Green**

"I am uncertain of just why we are allowing these people to have easy access to our ship, sir."

"Spock, they aren't going to do anything negative to us. Besides, I know one of them very well and she would never bring unsavory or dangerous people to me for help."

"As you have said before, it has been a long time since you have seen or even been in contact with this Saavil." Spock raised an eyebrow when he saw the look his captain threw him, "We should not trust every Vulcan that we meet just because my people are considered an endangered species."

"I feel safe taking her word for it, but you be suspicious about her. It's good for one of us to always be on our guard. It'll keep our crew safe and that's just as important."

**216. Pink**

Everyone was tired and cranky and really wanting this meeting to be over, but they needed to finish this meeting and it didn't matter just how much they all wanted to do nothing more than leave and go back to their quarters. They were going to find an answer if it killed them, because if they didn't, then not having an answer definitely would kill them anyway. This way they'd at least go out their own way rather than their enemy's way.

There was only one person amongst them who wasn't upset or tired or anything negative really. In fact, she was really, and there was no other group of words for it, tickled pink.

This was going to save her family, the family that she had found because of these times that were dangerous and trying and really, times that she hadn't had in hundreds of years.

Comet hadn't been Carrie in so long, that she had forgotten just what that was like. Maybe, just maybe, she would find out who she was again.

**217. Pink Flamingo**

Out of everything that she had ever seen, out of all that had happened in her long life, the weirdest thing she had ever seen was the planet where the people were mostly plastic-based life forms and the rulers of the planet were bright pink flamingos. They wore little stone crowns on their heads instead of plastic, though, because the plastic was alive. Everything that on Earth and just about every planet that was seen as nothing but an accessory of some kind was sentient. Carbon-based life forms weren't seen as living things and were actually viewed by plastic-based life forms the same way that photon-based life forms viewed carbon-based life forms.

In short, if you weren't plastic, then you weren't real. Period.

This caused something of a problem when they were set upon by a space firestorm. Don't ask how that was possible.

They sent out a distress signal to anyone and everyone that they could sense, asking for help. The _Enterprise_ was en route to Earth when they picked up the signal. No one had been to that planet in decades once it was found that carbon-based life forms were not accepted. Starfleet didn't have photon-based life forms when they found the planet; they didn't really have said life-forms at the time either.

But they did now.

**218. Pink Pearl**

Out of everyone that Saavil had brought aboard his ship, the one that confused him the most at first turned out to be one who he decided was the most fun.

"Can we borrow you for a while? My best friend would just _love_ to meet you!"

"I'm afraid I'm a bit busy at the moment."

"Come one, Doc! What kind of work could you be up to when not in the Infirmary?"

"There's plenty other work to do! I'm not a side show freak!"

"I'm not saying you are! I just think that you and Bones would get along great!"

"Captain Kirk-"

"Call me Jim."

"-I'm afraid that I need to be available in case any of my crew needs medical attention!"

"You don't think Bones has handled it already? That's cold."

"Captain Kirk, I don't know if you are aware or not, but Klingon-Human hybrids and former Borg drones aren't in the medical books just yet!"

**219. Pixie Powder**

"Are you going to be alright going down on the mission by yourself?"

"I _have_ done this before, I'm not completely inexperienced." The holographic Doctor huffed.

"…Suit yourself, just remember: get them the aid, make friendly contact and try not to offend anyone by referring to them as an object."

"Caused some problems last time?"

"More than the first contact group would tell us. Good luck, Doctor."

**220. Platinum**

_"Nerves of steel, souls of platinum."_

"Why do you watch this movie over and over again? It can't possibly serve any purpose."

"It has a purpose; just because you don't know what I get out of it doesn't mean that it's meaningless."

"All right, what is it that _you_ get out of Kung Fu 2?"

"…you're not going to make fun of me, right?"

"I promise not to intentionally mock whatever you tell me concerning this movie."

"That's not the same thing."

"It's all I can offer you, and you know it. You'd say close to the same thing."

"Point," she drew in a breath before continuing her explanation, "At the end of the first movie, which wasn't really as much about Po as people would have you believe, he has reached his goal. He had learned kung fu and brought peace to the Valley and to his master. Po has not reached peace with himself as far as the viewers know.

"There's the obvious question of where he came from, no one's going to believe that the goose is his natural father, and the second movie works off of that. In the beginning, you think that the movie is going to be about the peacock, the villain, and in a way it is, but only so far as it has affected Po. Shen attacked Po's home village because he feared someone from that village causing his downfall. Whether or not a panda would have destroyed him in the future, Shen was already setting himself up to be a tyrant over the people. People, whether they look frail or not, will not stay in a position of such helplessness against a despot for long. Revolutions happen when the populace is discontented; Human history is rife with such examples."

"That doesn't explain why most of the movie is about the panda."

"Half of the movie is about the peacock and half is about the panda. The peacock decides that he will only find peace when he has everything he wants. The main problem with that is as the ram says; the cup Shen would fill has no bottom. He will never find peace because he does not want to admit he has done wrong and forgive his parents.

"The panda, on the other hand, decides that what happened in the past, once he remembers it well enough, is not the important thing. You have to let go to the past in order to finally move forward, otherwise you are stuck in that moment for the rest of your life."

"Is that why you like the movie?"

"Yes, as a drone, I did many horrible things and I must be willing to forgive both my parents for putting me in harm's way as well as myself for being essentially powerless to stop it. There have been moments where, like the Furious Five and Master Shifu in the first movie, I have done things that are horrible when not under the control of the Collective, but that doesn't mean that I can't seek forgiveness from others as well as myself."

"…why did you show me this movie?" the other blonde looked like she didn't really want the answer to her question, but was going to ask it anyway.

"Because you are like me, you need to learn to let go of the past."

**221. Plum**

Comet hated plums; she'd hated them for years even though her sister, Star absolutely loved them. She knew what they were supposed to mean, at least, what their blossoms were supposed to mean. She also knew that she had never been given them and those who had honestly tried, for one reason or another, but she had never accepted them. In one instance, when she had tried making friends with some children, one of them, in his teenage years, had tried gifting her with a bouquet that included plum blossoms amongst several other flowers that had bloomed around that time of year.

Her reaction was a little over the top. It took years before that boy was willing to give another girl a bouquet.

She never quite had the nerve to tell Star about why she didn't go to that particular middle school anymore. Star wouldn't have understood and she would have wanted to know why Comet hadn't accepted the flowers.

Comet didn't want to live for so long, not after losing all of her friends and then later her family over and over again.

**222. Plump Purple**

The Doctor was quite surprised at the reactions of the plastic people that he had saved. They seemed to treat him as some sort of deity or shaman or something along those lines. He wasn't quite able to understand what they were saying, though he did record all of the dealings he had with them. It was an upside to some of his newer programming. He was able to help them with a little help from those above in the starship orbiting their planet. (He was pretty sure they thought he was conversing with a 'higher being' when he commed the ship and vice versa.

In the end, they were able to help protect the people that hadn't been killed just yet. He was also able to 'heal' (repair) those that had been 'injured' (damaged) but not killed. He was also able to convince them that carbon-based life forms were, if not people, than at least 'avatars' or something from the 'higher beings.' He also made sure that they knew that not all 'higher beings' were concerned with the plastic people's welfare and that they should choose for themselves whether or not to ally themselves with any of them.

When he was leaving, they gifted him with a rather large specimen of a type of flower that he hadn't ever seen before. It was, well there was no other word for it, plump and purple. It had a rather large stalk that slowly became the purple flower head. It was strange, but gorgeous. It was a flower that only held meaning amongst the plastic people as it was credited with the reason they had never had a civil war and had always had peace amongst themselves. He accepted it graciously (all those training seminars after becoming an Emergency Command Hologram (Captain Janeway was stern on this matter. If he was going to wear the red, then he was going to earn it.) and had paid off in the end.

He had been allowed to keep it in the quarters that their little group had been assigned on the _Enterprise_.

**223. Polished Pine**

"…who is that?"

"That? I thought you knew Kirk as a teenager?"

"That is not James Kirk."

"Well, that's not him as a teenager, but that is definitely not JT."

"Well, what's different about him?"

"His eyes aren't brown. JT has blue eyes and a slightly different bone structure. His hair is also a little lighter."

"Kirk as a teen did have slightly lighter hair, but it darkened a little with age, but it's possible that different circumstances caused a change in the eyes and even the bone structure."

"He did mention that he'd been born on a shuttle that had minimal protection at the time."

"…he was born on one of the older model shuttles? From which ship?"

"The _USS Kelvin_."

"And he _survived_?!"

**224. Princess Perfume**

Maria liked playing with Naomi, but she also liked meeting new people. She was very excited when she was introduced to someone new over the strange comm connection that was in Seven's 'office.' He was a very nice man and he reminded her awfully of the youngest of their group who was still back with JT. Mr. Riley said he was a relative of little Kev and that he had heard that she had been with him on Tarsus IV. He was really nice and had Kev's eyes.

"And how are you holding up so far away from home?" the kindly gentleman asked her.

Maria giggled and blushed a pretty pink, "I'm okay because I've got Saavil and George and everyone and all my new friends too."

"That's good to hear!" he laughed along with her as if she'd said a funny joke, but he wasn't laughing at her, he was laughing with her. Just like Kev did when one of them needed a good laugh to cheer up the group; it was quietly done.

They weren't able to talk much longer than that as it was someone else's turn, but he'd given her such a lovely goodbye that she didn't think the time had been too small or wasted or anything. It was just as much fun as if she'd seen Kev.

**225. Prussian Blue**

Saavil would likely never admit it to anyone who wasn't family, but when she saw those eyes for the first time since she was a scared and starving teenager she felt a peace settle in her soul that she hadn't been able to before. Not even bonding with her bondmate had been able to fill this hole so thoroughly as seeing a pair of blue eyes fix on her and widen with recognition that wasn't pain-filled, but joyful.

When she felt that same flare of aura that was distinctly of the Sol Line, she knew that she wasn't alone in this.

She also couldn't help but notice the way Comet didn't seem to pick up on the slight flare of aura. She wondered and then she remembered what she'd learned about the Guardian and then she knew. Comet wouldn't want to feel an aura flare that was just for comfort.

Guardian Comet hadn't wanted any comfort from George Kirk; she didn't think Comet would accept the comfort from JT any more than she had from his older brother.

**226. Purple Blue**

"Wow, that is one spectacular!"

"I know, right!"

"What are the two of you doing?"

"We're just comparing colors, Doc."

"Colors?"

"Yeah! Mine are a far deeper color than hers!"

"No they're not! Mine are-"

The Doctor rolled his eyes and tuned the rest of the argument out while he finished using the dermal regenerator. He didn't think he'd ever truly understand some people.

**227. Purple Heart**

"Sir, I'm picking up something on the scanner."

"Put it on screen."

"Aye, sir."

The picture on the view screen didn't immediately spike fear amongst the senior crew as they had never had any contact with these ships before. The strange cubes were a combination of different technologies and the main colors were green and black. Captain Kirk stood from his chair and took a step towards the screen just as Lieutenant Uhura spoke up from her station.

"Captain, I'm receiving a transmission from the ship."

"Put it through, Lieutenant."

_"We are the Borg. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile. Your technological and physiological distinctiveness will be added to our own."_

**228. Purple Mountain's Majesty**

Be'lanna Torres had been sent on this mission for several reasons, though it could be said that the most important reason was because, other than Tom Paris and Seven of Nine, she had the best chance of getting the _Delta Flyer_ to work even if she was going to be using technology other than Starfleet's. She wasn't quite as good as Tom at using older technology to fix something, but she was good enough to last as long as it was outdated Starfleet, Klingon, Cardassian or even Bajoran technology. She'd worked the most with those four types throughout her life even when they were severely outdated. She had been Maqui after all.

Seven of Nine was on this mission as well, and together they had been able to get the _Delta Flyer_, if not back to full working order, then close enough to not really make a difference as long as one or both of them were on her when she was actually flying. (They kept tweaking at her to get her to tip-top shape through the night and had just finished getting her completely tuned up when they'd been commed from the bridge.)

_"Lieutenant Torres, Crewman Seven of Nine we have received a strange transmission like the one you warned us about. We're patching it through to you right now."_

The next words they heard froze the blood in their veins.

_"We are the Borg. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile. Your technological and physiological distinctiveness will be added to our own."_

Be'lanna looked at her companion and frowned, "Well, at least we already finished the repairs." She turned back to her comm. "How close are they?"

_"They aren't within transporter range and don't seem to be aiming the transmission to us specifically."_

"I'm on my way to the bridge." Seven responded before turning and leaving the cargo bay that the _Delta Flyer_ was in.

Be'lanna commed several of her other mission teammates and then set about readying the _Flyer_ for launch. It was time to get this show on the road.

**229. Purple Pizzazz**

Captain Kirk was both surprised and not surprised at all when a tall statuesque blonde walked off the turbo lift at the rear of the bridge. He stood and turned to her just the same, though.

"Seven of Nine, I'm afraid you don't have clearance to be on the bridge."

She raised her ocular implant, "I informed you over the comm that I would be coming." She didn't pause more than a second in her stride across the bridge, stepping around anyone who obstructed her path to Sulu and Chekov's stations. "If the Borg are here, than you are going to need my help in order to hold then off long enough for my companions to destroy their shuttle."

Kirk motioned his people away from stopping the young woman, having already been warned by Saavil that if Seven of Nine wanted to get something done, none of his crew would be able to stop her. She kind of reminded him of himself like this, but he'd already talked this over with his first officer and the young woman. He'd been going to let the rest of his senior bridge crew know, but hadn't been able to do so quite yet. Something always seemed to be getting in the way.

He wouldn't find out until much later that part of his compliance and his bridge crew's compliance was caused by Guardian Comet. Fortunately for them, her influence would run out shortly before the battle with the Borg cube would commence. Of course, Comet's self-given mission would have been accomplished by then.

Before anyone could really stop her, Seven of Nine pushed her closed fist against the console in front of her and her assimilation tubules connected her to the guidance systems for the _Enterprise_.

**230. Purple Plum**

The Borg cube approached the _Enterprise_ faster than anyone was aware of it doing so. One moment it was at the edge of their sensors and the next it was in front of them. The time it took to notify the two women working on the _Delta Flyer_ and one of them making it to the bridge was less than five minutes, though this wouldn't be found out until after the battle.

Guardian Comet's influence on the bridge crew cut just as the Borg cube was sitting in front of the much smaller starship and Seven of Nine took control the ship's movements. Seven moved the _Enterprise_ in jerky motions for several seconds before she mastered controlling the, to her, outdated tech. It was more 'modern' than they had initially thought it would be, which would probably only put the cube in front of them off for a few seconds longer than Seven. Most of Guardian Comet's concentration at the moment, and the reason why she hadn't controlled the senior crew for very long, was on stopping the Borg transmission from their current location out to the Borg in the Delta Quadrant of this timeline.

This was the reason that the Borg didn't pick up on the _Enterprise_ being in front of them until they became a threat.

**231. Quick Silver**

"What are you doing with my ship?" Kirk yelled as the _Enterprise_ dodged another half-hearted attempt from the cube to get it in a tractor beam. He shook his head and barked out orders to his crew to go on the defensive and work in any kind of offense they could in retaliation from the strange ship attacking them as if they were a small fly irritating them.

"Sir! The Borg ship is still trying to get a transmission out, but something appears to be blocking them!"

"Keptin, the _Delta Flyer_ is launching!"

"Uhura, I want a comm connection with the _Flyer_ immediately. Also check the ship; I want to know if any of the other visitors are still on board this ship. If so, have them taken into custody until further notice."

"Yes, sir."

"Spock, any idea what's going on from your end of things?"


	13. Chapter 13

**232. Radical Red**

The ship was on red alert by the time the Borg took an active interest in them. The captain hadn't been the one to initiate it, but once it was going, he didn't take the time to cancel it. The strange woman controlling his ship seemed to be tiring from moving it to miss the attacks from the cube. The _Delta Flyer_ seemed to both exist and not exist on the scanners and it was driving Spock up the wall. (At least, that was Kirk's private opinion, he wasn't as skilled at reading Spock-ese as his Communications Officer, but he wasn't far behind her at it by this point.

"Borg vessel, cease and desist on your attacks on this Starfleet starship; your actions are unprovoked and you risk a war between our people and yours!" he shouted over the open comm link though all he received back was the same message that they had picked up in the first place.

_"We are the Borg. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile."_

Some of their attacks were grazing his ship and causing massive damage as if they were shorting out his ship's shields. He got the impression that they would already be under the Borg's control if it weren't for the strange people that they had come across on their way to Tarsus IV.

He hated having to put himself and his people at the mercy of relatively unknown people.

**233. Raindrop**

Be'lanna was doing her best, but she wasn't half the pilot that Tom was and she didn't have Seven there to direct the ship either. Seven was too busy keeping the _Enterprise_ and her vitally important crew safe from the Borg. The Doctor was still on the starship, making his way to the bridge while having to dodge security from what she was able to pick up from his comm unit and Saavil was on the and her vitally important crew safe from the Borg. The Doctor was still on the starship, making his way to the bridge while having to dodge security from what she was able to pick up from his comm unit and Saavil was on the _Flyer_ monitoring the cube, looking for every weakness they could pinpoint and taking advantage of it using the transphasic torpedoes in conjunction with whatever else she'd managed to cook up to take the Borg cube out.

Guardian Comet was on the _Flyer_ as well, but she wasn't much use as she was using the majority of her considerable abilities to stop the Borg from getting a transmission out. She was also conserving energy for when Saavil had successfully taken out the cube's comm system enough to deploy. They weren't going to take any chances if they didn't have to, but you can't plan for everything.

Julian Bashir was on board with them and he was proving to be a much better help at this than she had initially thought he would. He was a doctor after all, and a doctor who had taken his oaths on not harming others very seriously. Whatever his reasoning was, he was worth more than his weight in gold-pressed latinum with the way he took over flying for her so she could concentrate on the shuttle's systems. Genetically-enhanced brain and reflexes that would make her husband proud were he here to see it.

She missed Tom more than she would ever be able to express.

**234. Rainforest**

Tom had been one of those lost in the battle for Vulcan, but his loss cut at his wife and daughter every second of every day as she refused to move on and find someone else. Tom had been a flyboy, but he'd been _her_ flyboy and she wasn't going to replace him like she'd seen others try to do when they lost their spouse. No one from _Voyager_ had tried to convince her to do otherwise and for that she was grateful.

Her father-in-law had brought it up once, but that once had been enough to get him on her black list. She still allowed him to visit his granddaughter, but other than that, they didn't get along all. In fact, she got along with Seven of Nine better than she did the aged human.

Tom had been on loan to another ship while _Voyager_ was being repaired. His ship had been boarded by the Borg and he had been assimilated just enough to unleash a secret weapon that had been theorized and built and argued over by the Federation and its allies. It had been Tom's ship that had saved the Vulcan system for several more months.

**235. Raspberry**

"If it's really 'just' a movie or 'just' a book, then clearly it wouldn't be too bad if you missed it. After all, anything being 'just a something' isn't really that important in the scheme of things. You've said so yourself."

"Mom, I want you to know that you are being _severely_ uncool."

"Do I look like I care?"

Comet brought herself out of her memories as she watched Captain James T. Kirk wait for her answer on just why she had felt the need to take control of his bridge crew for anything, no matter how vital it seemed. If she had spoken with him about it, then he would have been able to understand just why it was so important for them to allow her Borg companion to take control of his ship. She was well aware that this wouldn't have happened for more than one reason.

The main reason was because she really didn't want to be in any kind of in depth meeting with the James Kirk of this universe.

"I'm waiting."

She sucked in a breath as his words overlapped with the voice of her Solaris and it was in that instant that she knew. She had been avoiding him because she didn't want to acknowledge what and who he was. She couldn't do that anymore as she snapped to attention and answered him.

"I did not want to speak with you about it, sir."

**236. Raw Sienna**

"Why did you do it, Comet?" Kirk's voice was stern and it had taken on an air of authority that similar to his captain's voice, but slightly different at the same time. He wasn't acting as a captain right now.

"I did not want to acknowledge that you were my superior here because it would be admitting that my Solaris and Sol General and their Line was extinct."

'Kirk didn't even blink, "That is no excuse for dereliction of duty."

"No, sir."

"You realize that I can't allow you to get away with this kind of behavior, not if what I've been told is true."

"Yes, sir."

**237. Raw Umber**

"Are you really going to make her do this?"

"Saavil."

"Some might call this cruel and unusual punishment."

"Saavil, she put everyone in danger because she didn't want to talk to me."

"She had a pretty good reason to not want to talk with you."

Jim stopped and looked at her, really looked. "Why? What is her reasoning?"

"You're going to have to ask her. You know the rules for this kind of thing just as well as I do."

Jim sighed, but looked away and nodded. "I'll talk to her, but I'm not going to rescind her punishment."

"I know."

**238. Razzle Dazzle Rose**

Comet wasn't sure if she should be thanking her knew Solaris or cursing him to the Chaos Cauldron.

There were several people that she had to work with and several people that she was thinking about knocking out. She didn't do it for several reasons, one of which because it would just make things worse for her in the long run. The other was because they really hadn't done anything to earn her wrath. They were just doing their jobs, same as she was and that job was really what was ticking her off.

She was in the middle of working in Engineering at the moment. She'd been working with the Communications and even with the different yeomen.

She was currently the official goffer for the starship _Enterprise_ and she would be for the next three days. Mostly it was to help her meet the people that she had controlled and to put faces to the minds that she had hijacked.

**239. Razzmatazz**

She kept up with her punishment and when it was all through, the week having gone by as slowly as possible (if she hadn't known better, she would have thought that there was someone from the Pluto Line working for Solaris. There was, but he wasn't Active and probably didn't even know his status.) When she was finally through, she reported to Solaris's ready room. She wasn't as afraid to meet with him now that she fully understood what she had done to people, good people that she hadn't even bothered to get to know. And that was the kicker that had really made her uncomfortable for half the week (and helped with the time drag.)

She hadn't thought about what she was doing to these people because she was so used to doing things on her own even when she'd spent the last two years working hand in hand with Starfleet and their allies against the Borg. She didn't want to think about the ethical or even personal effects of her actions because she hadn't wanted to get to know people that were some kind of twisted mirror of those she had known. It wasn't their fault and they hadn't been as bad a mirror as others that she had seen, but she hadn't wanted to know.

She knew why Solaris was mad at her, and his punishment, while many would see it as cruel if they knew her situation, at the same time it was completely justified and even a mercy. It had allowed her to once again see the people behind the names and it had shown her that they were different enough from those she knew so that she couldn't even say she really _knew_ them, but they were similar enough that they didn't make her wonder if it was something she had done to them. They were their own people, just as those of the _Enterprise_ she had once known, even if those same people hadn't really interacted with her a whole lot in her past.

**240. Razzmic Berry**

"Do you understand why I assigned you the punishment I did?"

"Yes, sir, it won't happen again."

"What won't happen?"

"I will report as is my duty and as is my right."

"Good, dismissed."

**241. Red**

The red alert that had gone off during the Borg Cube Incident (Jim really had to stop letting Chekov name things, but he put such cute puppy eyes on whenever Jim tried to stop him) had been set off, surprisingly, by the Holographic Doctor. The Doctor had been making his way to the bridge, ducking security and being a lot stealthier than he had initially let on, and had accessed a terminal at some point to activate the alert. In doing so he had more or less broken the 'spell' that Comet had on Kirk's crew. Jim wondered if that had been on purpose, but hadn't gotten around to asking the hologram about it just yet.

Either way, when Jim's crew came back to their senses and used their not inconsiderable talent and minds towards the problem of trying to survive their encounter. They were doing a pretty good job except for the problem of being unable to control the movement of their ship. Seven of Nine was still connected to the console at Sulu and Chekov's station and nothing they did seemed able to shut her out or disconnect her. They didn't try very hard at the moment, though, as they were all a little more interested in surviving and it looked like Seven was doing a pretty good job at making the _Enterprise_ dodge. They still took some damage, but from what they could see it would probably be a lot worse.

Captain Kirk hadn't been so glad to have an Active Guardian on their side, even if she had used her abilities unethically, as he was when he watched her work in tandem with the _Delta Flyer_ and his own ship in destroying the Borg cube. She did have a comm device on her that was more similar to the other time travelers, but it worked well enough to make a connection to his ship.

**242. Red Orange**

Once the Borg cube was taken care of, everyone turned their attentions to cleaning things up on the _Enterprise_ and attending to the wounded. Ambassador Spock was helping out in the Medical Bay as the need for more personnel with medical knowledge became apparent. It didn't last long as most of the injured were not fatally so and then he was being called to the bridge.

He was no in the least surprised to find the holographic Doctor there already, but he was slightly surprised to see that the former drone was currently fused to the _Enterprise's_ navigational console and unresponsive. He knew that she had done this kind of thing before and been able to communicate with those around her so he was slightly worried about one of his oldest friend's great-granddaughter.

"She's fine, but it's like she's regenerating and I can't manage to disconnect her from your ship."

"Is there any danger to her like this?"

"Not that I can see and no, I don't know if there is any danger to your ship. I'm a doctor, not an engineer."

Ambassador Spock (he'd given up on using a pseudonym entirely after the failure to make it stick on Tarsus IV) stepped forward and offered to look over the technology side of things along with those already doing so. He had the best chance at making sure no one would get hurt out of those there simply by fact that he was familiar enough with both sides of the technology. He would trust the Doctor with Seven's physical and implant health.

If all else failed, Be'lanna Torres should make it to the bridge soon enough along with Scotty and they would have the better chance at freeing Seven of Nine.

**243. Red Salsa**

It had been the final surge of energy from the Borg that had fused her to this ship and she couldn't stop her mind, the Borg part of it, from reaching out and integrating with the magnificent ship around her. She was almost as much a part of it as her Borg implants were a part of her, but there was something in the way. It was almost like the _Enterprise_ was trying to keep her separate from itself in a way that the Borg Collective would be drawing you further and further in.

The Ship's Core hadn't seemed as sentient like this, like the Doctor was, until she had connected to it and started moving it about to keep it and its precious cargo of life forms from the Borg. She couldn't allow this ship to become a part of what the Borg were trying to do here as they had done in her own home timeline. The ship allowed her to move it about as if it was learning from her, but at the same time wasn't. It didn't want her memories, but her Borg implants had been activated by a pulse that the cube had shot out in a last ditch effort to contact their counterparts in this time. It hadn't succeeded in doing anything but linking her more to this ship than she had ever had an intention to do so.

She couldn't free herself and she knew that she was changing the ship on a level that hadn't been done or tried since that strange shuttle had tried to take over Tom Paris in the Delta Quadrant.

**244. Red Violet**

It wasn't until they were starting to successfully detach her from the console that the view screen lit up with an image.

It was the image of a small blonde girl running through the flowers outside an old cabin before twirling in place and racing towards an elderly gentleman that looked slightly familiar and caused Ambassador Spock to smile sadly.

It changed towards the image of Seven of Nine in one of her biosuits, the silver once that hadn't lasted long, working away at the Astrometrics lab, trying to get it up and running with the aid of Ensign Harry Kim. Her eyes were focused on her work and she didn't notice the little looks of longing that the Asian man threw her every now and then.

It switched away towards the scene of a Klingon Bird of Prey's bridge. A battle was going on between the ship and through the view screen it was obvious that their opponent was a Federation starship.

The view screen starting flipping through different scenes faster and faster and Ambassador Spock stopped working with the mechanics to glance at the Doctor for permission for a mind meld. He received his permission and dived right in to calming the woman's mind and stopping the frantic pacing of the images on the view screen.

The last image they got wasn't so much an image as it was the sound of a young woman crying out for help from a man named Tuvok. Saavil entered the bridge at the moment and took Ambassador Spock's place in calming the woman down.

**245. Robin's Egg Blue**

There were new files in the _Enterprise's_ systems after that and the ship began to react strangely to people that, for lack of a better phrase, it didn't like. Not that any of these people were on board and it actually wouldn't be found out until several months later when a 'visiting dignitary' tried to harm the captain and found herself locked into some kind of force field that wouldn't have looked out of place in the brig. They were in Kirk's ready room.

The files themselves weren't accessed immediately and were only gone over by the senior staff during a meeting with the visitors present. It was a private meeting that had only included all those present because Seven had requested it through the Ambassador and her fellow travelers. She would need their help sorting through the memories left in the ship's mainframe. They would organize them by date, but be unable to delete or transfer them to anything else.

Only Seven and Kirk would understand why for the longest time. They shared a random look after that meeting and never spoke of it. They were both connected to the ship in ways that the others wouldn't be able to understand. Saavil, Ambassador Spock and the Doctor hadn't asked and Guardian Comet hadn't been in the meeting at all.

**246. Rose**

Waiting for the Council to see them was the worst thing possible to put them through at this point, but that actual meeting seemed to make things worse before Comet stepped up and pointed out just what would happen should they ignore what was happening. They were already affected by things, even if they weren't going to admit it.

"Nero was a casualty of our war and the fact that a Borg cube from our timeline came through and tried to contact the Borg of this timeline means that they are aware of you and once they deem you a threat, they will assimilate you or destroy you."

There was silence as they looked down at her with solemn eyes. Some of those eyes were angry, but others were contemplative.

"Was that a threat?" one of the admirals asked with what looked like genuine curiosity.

"It wasn't anything other than a statement of fact." Guardian Comet stood straight and tall in her diminutive way, "They will come for you just as they came for us. We have lost all but a few who have been able to create a stronghold in the Vulcan system. The Bajoran system is safe because of an empire known in our timeline as the Dominion. Most of the rest of the Alpha Quadrant has already fallen."

**247. Rose Dust**

There was silence throughout the chamber as everyone in the room turned to look at her in horror, save for her fellow travelers. Captain Kirk looked in horrified remembrance as if they sounded too much like someone he had personally known, but with a whole lot more power. Several of the admirals and a few councilors shared the same look in varying degrees.

Ambassador Spock stepped forward, "What was the purpose of coming here? What aid can this timeline supply our own?"

Comet turned to look at him before stepping into the exact middle of the room and raising her hands in front of her as if she was holding something. A light erupted from her fingers and acted as if it were a holographic three-dimensional image for them to look at.

"As it stands, we have lost most if not all of the habitable planets for the foreseeable future in our Quadrant." The lights that represented that part of the galaxy zeroed in and showed the destruction of various star systems and the movement of the Borg cubes as they moved from system to system. It didn't show the actual images of assimilation, but if the Borg were successful, than that system would turn the same green color as the light on the Borg ships. "We have several planets that are safe long enough to finish evacuating the populace and those that won't move are being given euthanasia shots so as to stop them from becoming Borg drones and used against us."

"You've been doing _what_?"

**248. Rose Pearl**

The conversation kind of degenerated from there for almost an hour. It probably would have gone on longer had Guardian Comet not lost her temper.

"Are you telling me that you are going to abandon an entire planet of sentient life forms, life forms that include more Vulcans than you currently have alive just because you don't want to have to deal with it?" Her voice was so icy that little crystals were actually forming on each exhale and the ground around her became frosty from her very presence. The main room temperature dropped noticeably for those within half a meter of her.

"Young lady, you have no right-"

Her eyes flared and icy flames licked their way from her eyes all the way around her body, "I am no 'young lady.' I have been alive longer than your precious Federation has been an idea. My kind has been keeping your planet from being destroyed time and again. If you won't help us, fin. I will ask someone else."

She turned to leave, but stopped and threw one last thing over her shoulder before leaving the room.

"You aren't the only power in this Quadrant."

**249. Rose Quartz**

Jim waited until they were back in his cabin before letting loose the question he'd been wanting to clarify since he'd heard her say it in the meeting, but he also knew that he couldn't have asked about it in there. He had wanted to show a more unified front even though they hadn't been able to get the Federation Council to extend aid.

"What do you mean you 'euthanize' those that won't evacuate?" his voice was dangerous because of how well controlled it was. (It could be argued that when James T. Kirk got well and truly angry, he was a lot like the Doctor from Doctor Who. He got quiet and his voice measured more evenly than a perfect square root.)

Comet knew that she was on dangerous grounds, but couldn't think of a way to explain that wouldn't end up with Solaris freaking out at her. It had really been too long since she'd had to answer to any Solaris that she wasn't sure how to explain things in a way that would be best for them. They needed to understand why she had taken her actions and such. She hadn't needed to do this with her uncle as he usually knew why she had done so in the first place even if he hadn't agreed with the decision. Luckily for her, Seven of Nine took over the conversation.

"We do not kill them if that is what you are implying."

"Then what kind of euthanasia are you 'offering' them?"

"We leave them with a communications device and a drug that the Doctor has created that will stop their bodies from accepting the Borg nanoprobes. Of course, this would also stop them from being able to benefit from any medical aid that 'tame' nanoprobes might have offered them at some point in their future. They either stay hidden somewhere in the planet with technology that will aid them in their run from the Collective. They are also left the ability to take their own lives if they wish to do so."

Jim looked horrified by that, but Seven continued before she could be interrupted.

"I was assimilated by the Borg before I reached my ninth birthday and was placed in an accelerated growth chamber that aged me to adulthood so that I would be a more efficient drone. Believe me when I tell you that anything would be preferable to life as a Borg drone." She stopped and looked him in the eye, "_Anything_."

Comet turned away from their conversation.

**250. Rose Red**

"So, who are we going to ask for aid now that the Federation of this timeline has turned their backs on us?" Be'lanna muttered, "Big surprise there." She took a swig of her blood wine.

Seven of Nine nursed her own drink, a simple Vulcan tea that was from her own store that she had brought with her; she had allowed the Ambassador to have a cup as well. Tuvok and the children from Tarsus IV had gotten her to like the Vulcan teas. The Doctor wasn't drinking anything, but was sitting amongst them companionably. Doctor Bashir was drinking some kind of juice that he had thrown together and no one had really paid attention to the recipe. Saavil was drinking the same juice as Bashir and Comet wasn't doing anything other than looking out at the stars through the window.

They were alone at the moment; the _Enterprise_ officers that had come down with them were finishing up their reports and sending them in. They would rejoin the time travelers in the morning which was really only a few hours away.

"I will ask Solaris."

"Didn't we already do that?" The Doctor asked.

Ambassador Spock smiled secretly, though no one other than Seven of Nine and Saavil noticed.

"No, I asked Captain James Kirk for aid in talking with the Federation Council before." She turned from her star-gazing and made eye contact with everyone before continuing, "Now I shall ask _Solaris_."

**251. Rotten Tooth Fairy**

Jim was waiting in his quarters, not yet ready to go back down to Earth even though he'd finished up what he'd needed to do. There was a ring at his door and he called out for his guest(s) to enter. Bones and Spock entered at the same time. Bones was glaring at Spock who was ignoring said glare. That was pretty normal for them and it didn't look like they had done much more than finish their own work and meet up at the same time on the way to Jim's quarters.

They settle down in the little sitting room area of Jim's quarters after each of them had their preferred drink.

"What do you think they will do now?" Spock inquired.

"I'd like to know that myself." Bones admitted.

Jim was silent for a moment before he looked away from the window in his room and back at his friends, unknowingly mirroring Comet down on the surface of the planet they were orbiting.

"I get the feeling that I don't want to know, and yet that I won't be surprised in the slightest when we find out."

**252. Royal Purple**

"Let me get this straight," Solaris began, looking at Comet strangely, "You are asking for my aid again?"

"Yes, sir."

"But not as a Starfleet captain or even as a member of the Federation or Earth."

"Correct, sir."

"You are asking for my aid as this timeline's Solaris and as your only Solaris."

Comet nodded again. They were alone in the room for the moment as she had asked for a private audience as his subordinate.

Solaris continued to stare at her in silence for almost ten minutes before a grin broke over his face, "All right, what've you got for me?"

**253. Ruby**

It wouldn't be until years later that any of the surviving members of the _Voyager_ crew would look at the small group of starved children and realize that, though the crew was the second best thing that had ever happened to those children, the children were also one of the best things that could have never happened to them.

Because _Voyager_ found those children, the children were saved from death and from being known only as the children that were lost from Tarsus IV whose bodies and ashes were the only ones never recovered.

Because the children were on a ship that was mainly military, but also a small community that was cut off from the majority of the Federation, they were able to get help and recover at their own pace without having to be ogled by those who hadn't been through something even remotely similar.

Because _Voyager_ found them, but was also much later in any timeline, most of the Starfleet personnel already knew the story of Tarsus IV, had studied it in the Academy and had lived away from any contact for several years with the Alpha Quadrant until just recently. The crew didn't need to know any of the gory details, those were already recorded. The children only needed to relive the parts that they actually needed help coming to peace over. The children didn't have to report anything that wasn't already known.

Because the crew of a lost Starfleet vessel that wouldn't have made it home for more than forty years into the future save outside help from said future found those children, they also found a safer, faster way home than any of them could have ever dreamed of.

And that wasn't even getting into the personal things for each individual on that ship either from the crew or the children. Those stories are too many to tell or have already been told. _Voyager_ and the children saved each other even though neither of them had to.

**254. Rusty Red**

Jim and Comet rejoined the rest of their current companions in the main room for lunch once their meeting was over. No one really asked what they had talked about yet, but it wasn't hard to see that they all had whatever it could be on their minds. Some of the time travelers even looked like they already knew what it was, but weren't sure how it had come out. Neither Jim nor Comet gave anything away as they were both still thinking about the other's reactions.

Jim was thinking about the plan in the first place and in its entirety. It would be tricky and might possibly get him either fired or killed (or both) just trying to do. He wasn't worried about that part, he'd done plenty of things like that before as long as he thought they were necessary and this certainly was. No, he was more worried about whether or not it would actually work and just what it would entail of other who weren't himself. He had the sinking suspicion that Comet already knew what she would be required to do and that she was more than fine with it. That she was looking forward more to that part of the outcome than any other part.

Comet, on the other hand, was still slightly worried that he would say no. He wasn't the last Jim Kirk that she had worked with and he never would be. That wasn't the problem, the problem was that she wasn't sure he would have enough to not only survive, but succeed as well. From what she had been able to glean from his crewmates and from Saavil, there would be many people that would do their hardest and their best to make sure he physically survived what they would attempt. It was whether or not they would actually succeed that was in question. If they didn't succeed, but he survived once again where he believed that others should have in his place…

She wasn't sure what that would mean for this timeline and she didn't really want to think about it too closely.

**255. RYB Position**

"Kirk, you have no authority to be even contemplating this."

"I must respectfully disagree, sir. I have exactly the right amount of authority to be doing this at all."

"Just because you saved Earth and-"

"This has nothing to do with my standing in Starfleet or even the Federation. This has everything to do with who and what I was and have been since the moment I was born. So with all due respect, sir, as soon as you denied these people, people that are just as much ours as anyone else's, help, this became my problem. They have asked for aid from me, and I can and will provide it. Whether you want to get in on this or not, it will be happening."

"You have the support of the Vulcan Race as well as the Vulcan Science Academy behind you." Everyone turned, though not all were surprised when the last Vulcan Elder and her entourage entered the chamber. "These are our people, let us bring them home."


	14. Chapter 14

**256. Sahara Desert**

They were in the Katric Arc in a meditative pose when they received the message.

Things weren't the best that they could have been, but anyone dealing with politics would tell you to stop whining and deal with what you had rather than complaining about what you didn't have. They were experts at it by this point.

Hoshi smiled; there was hope in the future.

**257. Salmon**

They were having a salmon grill for dinner, caught by several of the people staying in the cabin as they awaited the reply to their message to Tarsus IV. The fish were one of the few things that just about everyone would be able to eat with the exception of the Vulcans in their group and the holographic Doctor, but those were problems that were easily remedied. They others had a very large, comprehensive salad with cranberries and almonds and all other kinds of things in it that they wouldn't just find sufficient, but also actually enjoy.

They talked about several different things before they finally came to the topic that most everyone wanted to talk about anyway.

"So, what's the plan now that the Council has decided to bury their heads in the sand?" McCoy asked after taking a sip of his brandy. Jim only had that kind of alcohol besides chocolate liqueur stalked for some reason.

Jim finished chewing his mouthful before replying as it didn't look like anyone else would, "They've asked for my help, but not as a Starfleet officer or even as the Hero of the Federation and Earth."

"What other kind of influence do you have?" Spock inquired.

Jim grinned, "A lot more than the Council will be expecting at any rate. I'll fill you guys in as soon as I finish my plate. I'm actually hungry tonight."

Bones looked smug about that, he'd only been working Jim's eating habits, or lack thereof, since they'd met. This was a major win for him that not only was his best friend hungry, but he was willing to both admit it and do something about it. Saavil and Ambassador Spock both looked quietly pleased by this as well.

**258. Salmon Pearl**

"I'm the current Solaris, for those of you who know anything about the organization called-"

"The Guardians of the Universe, once known as the Guardians of the Stars." Bones spoke over his friend without really thinking, "You've mentioned that once, twice, a million times when I finally cracked you about where you were going during your Christmas vacations at the Academy."

Spock looked intrigued, "I have heard of this organization, but from what I studied as a child, this organization is mostly extinct insofar as the Vulcan Science Academy was able to study it."

"They weren't, aren't, extinct, they just don't like being made a big deal of over things like territory in outer space and negotiations between this or that planet when they don't need to. They're more concerned with keeping planets and races from going extinct from an outside influence or those who are stemmed from Chaos. I'm sure each of you have had at least a little information pounded into your heads from Starfleet Academy about the 'Silver Millennium' and what came about from it."

"There was supposed to be some kind of 'Crystal Tokyo' and a revival, but it never happened and the Federation's official stance on it was that said information came from a separate timeline." Doctor Bashir spoke up.

"While that is true, what Starfleet, for the most part, doesn't know is that it just didn't become necessary for it to happen. Those people, the 'Original' Sailor Senshi and their Lunar Princess didn't need to protect the Earth from that happening because the Guardians, those that were on Earth anyway, were able to help avert it from being needed. We don't really go into much detail on why that is amongst our ranks as those who were actually there haven't been bothered to speak up about it."

"We didn't 'speak up' because it wasn't necessary information." Guardian Comet spoke for the first time since her meeting with Jim. "It didn't happen, and that is all there really is to it at the moment." Her eyes made it clear that this line of questioning wasn't needed to what they were talking about in the long run.

**259. Sand**

"It's going to take a lot of work and no small amount of choreographing with the Guardians and Lines that are available in both this timeline and our own, but I think we might be able to bring an entire planet from our timeline into your own, do a sort of temporal switch." Guardian Comet knew that a great deal of this idea wasn't going to go down well with the Federation Council.

They would have a hard time believing it, but with the backing of not only the captain of their flagship (who was also a semi-Active Guardian in his own right), the backing of said captain's crew (they would do just about anything for this man, even if some of them would deny it past their dying breath) and one of the original Founding Races of the Federation the Council would have to go along with it by this point or risk losing more than just face in the Alpha Quadrant. Something that they couldn't really afford doing, which was why they had denied her aid in a way that made it nye on impossible for her to get word out about it without outside help (which they hadn't realized she had). Well, they were stuck with it in such a way that they couldn't bring up too many objections at this point without more solid backing than she had, which they wouldn't be able to get.

"Which planet are you considering for the switch?"

"Vulcan."

**260. Sandstorm**

"Are you out of your mind?!"

"Vulcan is gone! There isn't anything there but a black hole!"

The yelling and incredulity lasted for only a few minutes and only from those who weren't already Starfleet Admirals or on her side. Though she did get a few shocked looks even if they didn't say anything out loud right now. She waited for everyone to quiet down and for the ranking Admiral to motion for her to continue.

"It is a procedure that will be very difficult and will require the help of two more of my fellow Guardians from my own timeline. I can get a message to them to start for this time and they should arrive as soon as possible, barring any kind of problems that either side might have with outside forces. It will take a lot of work and maybe even some sacrifice, but only on the side of the Guardians, I assure you."

"How is this even possible?"

"I'm not really the best person to describe it to you, partially because I don't know how to spell it out in terms that you would understand. My colleague, Seven of Nine would be a better lecturer on this topic if I may turn the floor over to her?"

"Proceed."

**261. Sapphire**

Things were starting to move, finally move in such a way that was not detrimental to them! She had been alone for so long and had given so much of herself to this cause that she had almost forgotten on more than one occasion just what it was she was even trying to do, but she was finally reaching the end!

She smiled secretly, but joyfully as she watched her star and her comet reach out to one another over distance and time as if they were merely talking on the phone from the opposite end of the planet. All of her work was worth this moment when she knew that things were going to be all right for her people.

Her family was safe and would have the chance to grow once more.

**262. Sasquatch Sneakers**

The worst part about sending the message from one timeline to another was that you had to do it whilst burning the same kind of incense as your counterpart. They hadn't been able to get just why that was yet, and it wouldn't have been so bad if it had been anything other than lavender.

There was just something about that purple and gray little bush that would never quite sit right with her, no matter how useful it had been throughout her life.

**263. Sasquatch Socks**

Hoshi didn't mind the scent half so much as her alternate-sister did. She quite enjoyed it truth be told, but she didn't really bring that up around Comet. It would do nothing more than solidify even further the differences between them and that wasn't something that they needed at the moment.

She grinned once the message had been received and immediately rose to deliver the message. Or rather, she would have, but she had forgotten just how slippery her stockinged feet were on the smooth wood of the Katric Arc's floor. She slide all over the place and even into the walls several times before she remembered that she could just fly or even teleport herself to her destination.

Her face flamed red as she set about doing just that.

**264. Scarlet**

He was more than happy to be taking her away from this place, away from this time where she had no star to gather light from and no planet to call from. She would be no more than skin and bone wrapped around scarlet madness if not for him and their Bond. She was grateful when she was able to be, not that this bothered him a great deal, he was Vulcan after all.

It wouldn't be until they finished their journey and he would feel the loss of some of his connection with his own planet and she would feel the renewal of her own that he would finally understand even a little of what she had gone through. She loved him all the more for the fact that he would never bring it up in words, but it would show in his every action towards her. Just how much he loved and respected her even though she could only feel it because she knew him so well.

**265. Screamin' Green**

It was a good thing that the _Enterprise_ was the ship to pick them up as one of them was going into something like a mini-coma by the time they exited the vortex. It was a small vortex, much smaller even than the one that Ambassador Spock had traveled through in the _Jellyfish_. They were in a small, but swift runabout that barely had room to lie down in. It was small and super-powered from what Scotty could tell. (He was absolutely ecstatic that he was allowed to look over some of these things during his off duty hours (which he only had now because he wanted them to look at these fascinating space crafts) as long as he had one of the time travelers with him at all times. Ambassador Spock was not included in the roster for obvious reasons.)

What was surprising to the Medical staff, and most of the ship, was the fact that a Romulan was on board and was freaking out the most (read: slightly) about her companion's mini-coma. She remained with him at all times and still wouldn't leave their assigned quarters even when he was stable and able to be moved.

The fact that they were bondmates was actually kind of anti-climactic once it became known. The fact that she was the Senshi for the destroyed Romulus and he was the Senshi for the now absent Vulcan also explained the scans that she underwent that showed neural damage that was now healing. Vulcan was in the mini-coma to stop the same thing from happening to him until she was well enough to handle supporting his connection to his planet from their own timeline.

**266. Sea Green**

Romulus didn't give a civilian name and didn't give one for Vulcan either, just stated their Senshi designations and then ignored just about everyone else who wasn't Guardian Comet, Captain Kirk, any of the doctors and Ambassador Spock. She refused to leave her bondmate's side until he was stable and then she spent a great deal of time sleeping as well. The doctors were worried at first, especially after seeing the neural damage in the first scan she had, but started to calm as subsequent scans showed that she was healing and actually starting to get restful sleep. Vulcan seemed to become less restless or coma-like as Romulus's health improved as well.

When Vulcan left his mini-coma and entered actual sleep, Romulus woke up and her scan showed, if not perfect health, then at least the damage was decades old and mostly slight scarring only. She was able to eat actual food once again and take part in conversations. Any actual planning would have to wait until Vulcan regained consciousness as well.

The doctors on board all recorded their findings about her recovery and the doctors from her original timeline explained the data from before they had left her and their timeline. Her original outlook wasn't good and she had survived the destruction of her planet only because she had not been the primary senshi for it and she had found her Bonded shortly before the Romulus system was destroyed. Vulcan was the reason the Romulus Senshi Line still existed.

**267. Sea Serpent**

"Kirk, have you picked up the senshi from the rendezvous point?"

"Yes, sir. They are recovering much better than was initially expected."

"Recovering? What happened?"

Kirk hesitated for a moment, though it wasn't picked up on (half a millisecond isn't always considered vital by some) before answering. "One of them had neural damage from the initial destruction of her original planet and required a short medical leave of a day or so for the damage to reverse itself once she was in contact with the celestial forces of her planet once again."

There was silence from the other end of the line.

"Also," Kirk continued, "Her bondmate went into a slight mini-coma where he needed to adjust to the lack of celestial forces from his planet which we don't have in our timeline anymore. He's still connected to his planet from his timeline and once his bondmate finished recuperating she was able to support the connection even though it is long distance."

"Who are the senshi you picked up anyway?"

**268. Sepia**

The world was alive again, even if it was still slightly sepia-toned from the lack of active thoughts coming from her bondmate. She could feel her planet spinning out there somewhere once again.

She could barely feel the corresponding turn of her Beloved's planet, though, and that worried her. Still, she knew what the plan was and that gave her hope. Hope that she hadn't had in too long a time.

**269. Shadow**

He smiled as he watched them start to recover and reach out once more to one another on a subconscious basis. Things were starting to look up once more. They hadn't been absolutely sure that bringing her from their own timeline to this one would make enough of a difference and they certainly had hoped that Vulcan wouldn't react too badly to the lack of celestial power. They were quite lucky that he was so tightly bound to his own planet in the sense that he was the primary senshi in the Vulcan Line otherwise things might have gone differently.

After all, the reason that Romulus wasn't dead was because she had been the secondary in her line rather than the primary. Her sister had been the primary, and look what had happened because of that.

The Doctor smiled even more when he saw that his female patient was starting to wake. If all went well, Vulcan should awaken in a day or so and they could finally move on with the plan.

**270. Shadow Blue**

"Well, well, well, this is a turn out."

"Is there a reason you are here?"

"Just checking up on you, family and all that."

"Things are going about as well as we had hoped."

"Shame that the mighty Federation didn't come through half so well."

"We got their aid, what we could anyway, in the end. It doesn't matter in the long run how much they were strong-armed into it by the Vulcan Elder or not."

"True, true. Still, I would have thought that they would have been practically jumping at this. Probably because they don't have Jean-Luc just yet. He could get just about anything done."

"Yes, he would have, but we have Solaris and that's just as good."

"If you say so, darling."

**271. Shampoo**

Out of everything that they had read, the story that they ended up liking the best was, oddly (or not so oddly) enough a manga that had been transcribed into just written format with little to no pictures. It was argued that this made the book more child-friendly, or at least friendly enough that all mothers (and some fathers) wouldn't confiscate and recycle the book as soon as they found out about it.

Maria's favorite character was the Chinese Amazon who kept trying to win the hero of the story, and yet always managed to mess up at the same time. She commented that the woman would have had a better chance if she had simply tried to befriend the hero and his fiancé as, outside of the ridiculous engagement, they might have been good friends. In fact, she said that about a lot of the characters and kept reading because she hoped that they would come to the same idea.

In the end, no one was certain just how it had ended because Maria kept coming up with different answers whenever anyone asked about it.

**272. Shamrock**

For all that he would mention it, Jim Kirk didn't really believe in luck. He believed that you made of yourself what you could with what you were given. Whether that turned out well for you or not wasn't anyone's fault, decision or even responsibility other than your own. This had worked out well enough for him in the past and he didn't see himself changing it any time in the future.

"How long do you think it will take to coordinate everything?" Bones asked.

"Not much longer than a week or two, a month at the longest, and then we'll start."

"Try not to kill yourself, kid."

Jim smirked, "Wish me luck then."

**273. Sheen Green**

"What happened after that, Grandma?"

"Well, that's a good question. None of us really now just what did it and those who do know certainly aren't telling, but it's said that it was Solaris, the first proper Solaris, who saved everyone and brought things around in the end."

"Do you believe that, Grandma?"

A very old Maria smiled down at her grandson with crinkles around her eyes, "I believe that it was her and that there were quite a few others who must have helped in the end, too."

**274. Shimmering Blush**

Maria was more than pleased when the day came that Vorik and Saavil announced that they would be having a simple Vulcan bonding ceremony. She didn't get to dress in anything fancy or walk down an aisle and throw flower petals, but she did get to stand and watch the ceremony and attend the reception that was held in the Mess Hall afterwards. Everyone was able to come, even if they had to take a quick switch of shifts and came at different times. It wasn't every day that someone got married on a small ship out in the middle of the Delta Quadrant.

Vorik and Saavil seemed content with one another, insofar as someone who wasn't a Vulcan could tell anyway, but Maria knew that she and all of the other kids were visibly happy enough for everyone.

After all, it had become a pet project between Maria and Naomi to get this to happen once they realized that Saavil and Vorik wouldn't be objectionable to the idea. The fact that they cared for one another a great deal was evident enough to the two girls who decided to play matchmaker. Not that Vorik and Saavil hadn't been aware of what they were doing; it was kind of hard to hide something from Saavil especially when she was the other Tarsus children's de facto mother-figure.

**275. Shiny Shamrock**

"How do you know this will work?"

"The same I know anything will work if you keep trying and trying and-"

"I get the idea, but seriously, Jim, what if something goes wrong?"

"You mean like things normally go wrong for us?"

"Exactly."

"Then I'll just keep going. This isn't something I could back out of, even if I wanted to. It's too important, Bones."

**276. Shocking Pink**

"What are you wearing?"

He looked down, "What, this? This is just my uniform for this operation."

"Jim, you're wearing a bright pink unitard-looking thing that also looks like it was crossed over with your Starfleet uniform."

Jim grinned, "I'm just messing with you."

His outfit changed into a strange gold and black with some kind of glittery outside aura thing that Bones couldn't quite place. It looked close to one of the uniforms that the future Starfleet people had shown up in, but it was also very different. He also appeared to have some kind of symbol in gold on his brow. If Bones hadn't known it was him and actually watched the difference that took place as the initial pink illusion had dropped, it was likely that he would have never recognized his friend.

"It's the 'magic' part of it that keeps you from knowing or recognizing the person unless you already knew." Jim explained when Bones asked about it.

**277. Shrimp Cocktail**

Out of everyone present, it was likely that Guardian Comet would have been taken the least seriously if she hadn't walked around in her Guardian uniform all of the time. She was short, probably making it at about 5' even, if that. Her hair was a short bob of fiery red hair and her skin was pale as if she hadn't been out in the sun a whole lot. She didn't tan and nothing every made her skin change color unless she was burned or had frostbite, which also rarely happened. Her eyes were clear and couldn't seem to decide if they were blue or blue-green most of the time, even though they always looked far older than she looked cosmetically.

Her uniform was black with red and blue and a few gold sparkles scattered all over in different sizes. It covered her body and was similar in design to the Starfleet uniforms that were worn by Doctor Bashir and Be'lanna Torres, though it was one full cloth and not pants with an undershirt and jacket. It wasn't skin-tight, but wasn't too loose either. The fabric around her ankles was a little thicker as it tapered down and became a part of her boots. Her hands were uncovered, but held the symbol of a sun and a crescent moon on their backs.

It was her expression and the way she carried herself that finished informing people that she wasn't as young as she looked and knew what she was talking about. It was rather hard to not take someone seriously when they knew more about the history of your planet than you did and could disarm any number of humans attacking them during a sparring session. She was always very polite, if stiff with everyone.

**278. Silver**

"Is there a reason that we're not trying to get the Witches Council in on this problem?"

"Most of them are too thinly spread out as it is, and it's possible that there aren't any of their members or even apprentices in this part of the galaxy, if they're in the galaxy right now at all."

"Do I want to know who and what those people are?"

"No, Captain, you don't want to know."

"It's a shame that Ambassador Spock is still missing along with Captain Nero. They would have been able to help us out a lot more with their contacts."

**279. Sizzling Red**

The Guardians that they had left gathered around the planet of Vulcan, those that were Active already in their battle gear, just in case. Those that weren't Active, but had a few of their abilities workable were floating around in space suits, but also tethered to one of the Active Guardians. Those that were of the Lines, Guardians or Senshi but not Active enough to have any kind of active or even passive abilities were placed in strategic locations all over the planet with everyone that would be making the journey battened down. There were several starships landed on the planet with their warp cores currently running at the lowest output of energy possible.

Not everyone was going to go. There were those that were going to stay behind and fight on against the Borg, even if only in the defense of the Bajoran system and the wormhole to the Gamma Quadrant. There were also those that had set out for the Delta Quadrant to meet with and help their allies on that front. The Borg hadn't been paying as much attention to their Quadrant of birth since they started the long-term invasion of the Alpha Quadrant.

Most of the ones going were families and orphans as there was nowhere really safe for them in this timeline anymore. They were leaving with the hope that life would be better on the other side. Most of the Vulcan people would be going, but there were those that had joined the other two movements as well. Most of the Romulans that had survived the destruction of their system were going and the number staying behind was far too miniscule to make as much of a difference, but they had shared what technology they had freely with their Vulcan cousins when they were taken in.

The Borg had all but won the Alpha Quadrant, but they wouldn't get all the peoples from it.

**280. Sky Blue**

No one else stayed within the Vulcan system other than those who were going to be leaving it. It wouldn't be safe for them once the shift happened. No one was really certain about what would happen to the black hole that used to be Vulcan in the other timeline once it went through the shift. It could grow big enough to finish up the rest of the Vulcan system in the 'future' timeline, or it could compress and shrink, which would still destroy the rest of the Vulcan system, but in a slightly different way.

No one was prepared for what would happen while they waited, even though they had certainly tried. At least the Borg took most of the damage once the shift was over on this side of things. The black hole that was left in Vulcan's place would be vastly different from any other black hole that any who wasn't a high-standing Senshi or Guardian had ever seen before.

**281. Slate**

They were so glad when the transfer was over, though it was really hard to get along with people that, for the most part, didn't seem so excited to have them there. Granted that they only had consistent contact with a few Starfleet officers, mostly high ranking ones that couldn't seem to decide if they were pleased with the new increase in Federation members and allies or annoyed with all the paperwork that this was going to involve.

The Vulcans, those that were left after the Nero Incident, were ecstatic. Well, as much as they were able to get over excited about anything in such a way that other people who weren't Vulcans, friends with Vulcans or married to Vulcans were able to notice. Even with the added different species that were now a part of New Vulcan (which was actually almost identical to the Vulcan planet of this timeline, except it was geologically older than the one that had been destroyed), the surviving Vulcans were willing to accept the new members of their planet. Mostly because the Vulcans that had come with the planet wouldn't allow anything less to be acceptable.

It was a new timeline, a new galaxy and a new chance for the people who had been fighting and running and doing everything that they could so that they would survive. They had a clean slate and hopefully they would be able to stop the Borg from following them here.

**282. Slimy Green**

Before the transfer was finished between a planet in one timeline and a black hole in another one, the Borg attempted to swarm over the blockade around the Bajoran system. Those that were protecting the Vulcan system received the notification, but were not called to come to the other system's aid. They had seen this done before and had lost a few planets and systems because they had thought that the Borg were concentrating only on the one point when in fact they were just waiting for the ships that were protecting one system to go to back up the others. This maneuver had only worked one or two times before the Alpha Quadrant allies stopped falling for it.

It was at the moment that they realized, as they listened to a system still fall to the Borg, that they would need to pick and choose their battles. They started to consolidate their people and their resources to only several points in the quadrant in a better bid to protect their peoples. The Borg were winning on their march when it came to territory, but through the new strategies that were put into place, they weren't going to get as many new drones as they initially thought they would.

**283. Smashed Pumpkin**

"The dead exist in the past, and I must attend to the future."

She stopped and turned towards the woman that had helped her more than she would ever have thought possible. Hoshi had been alone for so long before she had found peace and fulfillment once again and then she had lost it whilst being left with those who she could not connect to in the same way that she had with Jimmy. She cared for those that were in her care and sought to help them as best she could. That had grown from those that she had been able to save from genocide to those that were on a lost ship.

Hoshi smiled at the blonde Borg, "Thank you."

**284. Smoke**

She resolutely turned away from the battle that was going on around them and took one last look at the planet that she had been born on, that her parents had cared for. Earth had been her home for thousands of years and she had continued to look after it even after all of her family was gone.

As she looked at the blue ball of water and rock and so much more for the last time, she thanked the Creator that she was able to see her home one last time before everything went up in smoke.

Guardian Comet was a creature of a fire and ice and space dust, but her heart shown just as brightly as those who were nothing more than flesh and blood.

**285. Smokey Topaz**

Solaris was in his uniform and not on the _Enterprise_. He was accompanied by Guardian Comet and, surprisingly enough (to others, not Jim) Guardian Vulcan Star. The Senshi for Vulcan and Romulus were neither of them Active enough to be out in space without space suits on, which wouldn't be a good idea at the moment, considering the fact that Vulcan in this timeline was still a black hole. So they were on the _Delta Flyer_ in their own positions on the far side of the Vulcan Black Hole. There were others with them on the advanced shuttle craft, keeping it in operation, but only the minimum required.

_"Is everyone in position?"_

_"Aye, sir."_

_"Affirmative."_

_"…Let's get this over with."_

_"…"_

_"Let's begin then."_

The three Guardians and two senshi gathered what energy they could and began to form it, mostly around Solaris but also around themselves as well. The starships watching over them, there were at least ten, kept themselves on alert in case anything happened, but also had their scanners running and recording everything that was happening. The last time something like this had happened, the Federation hadn't really been fully formed yet. They were going to get as much information as they could.

It wasn't every day that you got to see a planet from a completely different timeline get pulled into your own in exchange for a black hole after all.

**286. Soap**

The first bath he can remember having was given to him by his mother. She had soaped him up with something that smelled sweet and spicy and just like her before rinsing him off gently. She was always happiest in his company when she was doing something with him that made it obvious that he was just a child, a baby really. It helped her mind separate him from his father and put him on the same level as his brother. She needed that distinction and with the hole in his mother's mind from the ripping of her Bond with someone not only from a Line, but the fact that he had been what was the Senshi of his Line. (His younger sister had been the Guardian and when George Kirk died, since he'd had offspring already to take up that part of the Line she hadn't become the new Senshi of the Line.)

He loved her and he knew she loved him, but it was hard for her to just survive, let alone live. He understood that fact more and more the older he got, but looked at the Senshi for Vulcan and Romulus as they healed from the damage done to their Bond from the loss of each other's planets and then also not only witnessing, but fighting against the madness that Nero's broken Bond had caused…

He was lucky that his mother had never tried to smother him in the bathtub, even when he'd seen a random flash in her eyes that he now knew was that urge. She had fought against that urge and he was alive and stronger from that knowledge alone.

**287. Sonic Silver**

The lights around him seemed to fade away and all that was left was the enormity of the black hole. It was hungry, so very, very hungry and it wanted to eat everything and anything that was around it. It wanted to reach past its borders and drag in the ships that encircled it at several different angles. It wanted to swallow the tiny ship with the two dormant senshi crystals ad the fragile life that encased them. It wanted to gobble up the Guardians that were the closest to it out of the group of people and ships.

Above all else, it wanted _him_ first and just about everyone else second. He thought it might have something to do with him being both a Guardian and a Senshi, which was very unusual.

He could see his own light glinting off the darkness and knew that it was because of that reason alone that he was the one it wanted the most. It was dark and lonely as well as hungry and it saw his light and wanted it to fill it up. It wouldn't, but that wasn't the point, it would still try anyway.

He wouldn't let it succeed.

**288. Southwest**

Out of every part of what used to be the United States of America, before the planet had unified, Hoshi felt that the most beautiful part of the country was the dry and red-caked lands of the southwest. It might have something to do with the land being hard to live on for most people, the lack of water and the sheer heat of the day coupled with the freezing temperatures of the night, but it always made her think of her sister and the duality of her nature as well as Hoshi's own.

They were of the stars and of the comets, celestial bodies that were out in the freezing darkness of space, but with their own energy and fire at the same time. The southwest made her think of what they were to one another as well. Hoshi was the burning of the day and Suisei was the freezing of the night. They were two parts of the same whole and nothing would ever really separate them, no matter how far they were apart, mentally or physically.

They were just like the days and nights of the southwest. This gave her comfort when she felt Suisei lose her physical body at the destruction of Vulcan.

**289. Spiro Disco Ball**

Everything was strange when the planet had dissolved beneath her feet and she had been swallowed by something she never had before. Considering how long she had lived and how many strange situations she had gotten into, both metaphorically, mentally and physically, there weren't a lot of things that hadn't happened to her before. So this was one of the first things that had happened to her first in several hundred or so years.

Vulcan had dissolved under her and then she was falling and falling and falling and then there was nothing but darkness.

She was alone and yet she could feel a hunger all around her, for time she thought it _was_ her. She was so cold and everything was so dark and sometimes she saw a light off into the distance and she _wanted_ like she could never remember wanting before. She wanted that light to come here into the darkness with her so that she wouldn't be alone. She didn't think about going out to the light because she wouldn't really remember what it was like out there and so thought that she would always be here, no matter what. She wanted the light, but she didn't want to consume it like the darkness around her, she just wanted it to come and be with her.

It was that thought that helped her realize that she wasn't the darkness that was hungry, so very _hungry_ all around her. It had pulled her in, but it couldn't consume her in the same way that it would little lights that went too close to its yawning mouth. Those little lights would be pulled in and then completely destroyed and she would watch, knowing that there was nothing she could do to help or stop or even blink about. She couldn't turn away and watch as the little lights went out, it seemed disrespectful for her to pretend that it wasn't happening, so she just continued to watch.

**290. Spring Frost**

She had just about given up on finding much of anything that would stop what she saw happening. Her Guardians, the ones that had come into her life when she'd been just a teen and so confused and angry at life, but still trying, were looking more careworn and hopeless with each passing decade. They were so tired and yet they would never give in as she had seen other Guardians and Senshi do. They had been born for a purpose and even if they had refused to follow the purpose that their 'mother' had given them and found their own, they would never be able to just give up.

Her Guardians were just as much her friends and family as the people that she had met and eventually grown old and died with. Except she hadn't really died, she was still here, watching things. No one could see or feel her, not really, and she had made it such when she knew that this was coming because, like Princess Serenity, Prince Endymion and the Senshi of Mars, she sometimes had dreams. Dreams that scared and frightened her in all their terribleness, even if some of them hadn't come true do to the actions of those around her.

She hadn't had dreams with the same frequency that any of the others had, but she had them all the same. She had chosen this course of action at the end of her mortal life and gone somewhere that she knew she would be trapped in for a long time, just so that those she cared about would have a better future. She had come this far, and though she had precious little help, she would not give up. She couldn't, not when so much was riding on this.

**291. Spring Green**

It all changed when she saw the light that was reflecting off the darkness and deep into the center of it. She had been confused at first; it wasn't like darkness, especially _this_ type of darkness, was very reflective. Maybe it had something to do with the light? She wasn't very sure. Her mind was having a hard time thinking through things here, probably because she couldn't really remember much whilst she was _in_ here. She couldn't always remember where here was and if she had ever been anywhere else. She did remember the little lights that would be pulled in, though. They seemed awfully important for some reason, though she couldn't quite place why.

But this time was different from all the other times that she had seen a light. This light was different, as if instead of a small collection of dim almost-lights that grouped together to form a little light, this light was one light. It was strong and it gave off such a feeling of familiarity that she knew in an instant that she _knew_ this light. She knew it on such an intimate level that she felt ashamed of herself for forgetting it in the first place, even if she still wasn't able to quite place _why_.

She knew this light and she also knew that the darkness all around her wanted it more than it had wanted anything else that it had ever pulled in.

She couldn't let it have the light.

**292. Star Spangled Banner**

Hoshi was spinning her energy and power out and around the planet of Vulcan with everything that she had. There were others in their designated positions either doing the same thing or acting as anchors for the power. She was the main weaver as she had the closest and best connection to where they were trying to end up. Through the connection she could feel to Jimmy (_Solaris_) and, strangely enough, Suisei, she directed the energy. She wouldn't be the one pulling or pushing; she would one of the main powers giving energy.

She was the perfect battery source for this kind of thing. She was the personification of stars anywhere and everywhere, especially the billions and billions of stars that didn't have a Guardian or Senshi of their own. As long as at least one star glowed out in the night sky she would have energy to call upon. She could bring from her own core without depleting it as long as she was feeding from her connections not only to the stars in her timeline, but the ones in this one as well. She had forged connections to a lot of the same stars in two different timelines and she knew that wherever she went, she would still _feel_ those connections and she would receive energy from them.

They liked her and from what she had learned, they missed having a personification for interacting verbally with other sentient life forms. Her counterpart in this place was both lost and yet not at the same time. She hadn't looked into it too much, but she had met her sister's counterpart, Comet and she knew that Comet wasn't quite there even when she was all business. There was something…distant about Guardian Comet with everyone that made Hoshi wonder if she had been in some other kind of reality-alternate that still existed in Comet's timeline.

Hoshi felt Solaris reach through to her from across the gap in timelines and she felt something a little…extra, too. Someone that she hadn't really felt in a long, long time.

_Princess Solaris?_

**293. Steel Blue**

Solaris, the first Solaris, looked out at those she cared about and wanted to live: her many greats grandson and his little nephew, her Guardians and the children of her friends. They were trying so hard to save everyone that they could. They were running out of time and out of energy. She could see that they wouldn't have enough, and she knew that they would miss the cut off for energy by the tiniest of margins, but it wouldn't have mattered if it had been a great margin or not. They wouldn't make it with what they had; they just didn't have enough power, despite all their best efforts.

When they failed at switching the planet with the black hole, the Borg would invade the Vulcan system for the last time and finally overcome one of the last strongholds in the Alpha Quadrant. With the fall of the Vulcan system, the morale for the rest of the quadrant as well as the Delta Quadrant would fall to almost completely hopeless levels. It would take more than a miracle to recover and it was possible that they never would.

The Borg would win and there was very little that her precious ones could do to stop it.

**294. Steel Green**

They got so far and everyone was doing everything they could, but there seemed to be some meter that they hadn't reached. They were so close and yet they still weren't making it.

The Senshi and Guardians had nothing else to give and Solaris was reaching out for Vulcan whilst trying to resist the black hole's pull. It was big and it was hungry and it would not let them leave without taking something in to feed its hunger.

_"Sir, it isn't working!"_

_"We don't have any more to give!"_

_"We can't give up! These people need us."_

_"We're not going to give in."_

**295. Steel Pink**

Saavik watched as her family fell apart throughout the years. None of them really seemed to recover from losing their captain. They scattered to all over the quadrant in a way that they hadn't done even with her father died. They didn't have reunions as much anymore and rarely contacted one another at all. Her father went farther than she had ever seen him do so before. He left Vulcan and Earth and Starfleet and everything that he knew to go to Romulus.

He had told her that he knew what he was doing when he left and she had trusted that he would succeed in his self-given mission. If he didn't succeed within his own lifetime, then he would succeed afterwards. He was that determined.

Then things started to happen.

Her adopted grandfather died.

Her father's captain came back to life and then died a second time.

The Borg attacked Earth, traveled back in time and were defeated by a new _Enterprise_ crew.

There was the war with the Dominion.

People from another universe came with a lost ship thought destroyed or forever traveling home from the Delta Quadrant. They included the dead brother of her family's captain.

Many other things happened, things that seemed insignificant with what came last.

Then, the Borg came again and this time, they did not fail.

**296. Steel Teal**

Chekov watched as everyone on the bridge watched their captain and the Guardians tried to save a planet from another timeline. He watched as they threw everything they had into it, and he watched as it wasn't enough.

"There has to be something we can do."

"What can we do? We don't know how to 'send our energy' or whatever it is that they're doing."

Chekov said nothing. He watched and he knew that he needed to do something, that he _could_ do something. He just wasn't sure what it was that he could do.

**297. Strong Magnet**

Jim was losing the battle. He was tired and he didn't know what to do to keep the black hole that used to be a planet with a Senshi and a Guardian and his family from swallowing everyone up. It pulled on him and he knew that it was pulling on the others as well. If this kept up, they wouldn't be able to finish in time and the black hole would win before anyone or anything else would.

He didn't even want to think about what that would do to the people on the other side of the timeline.

That's why he was so surprised when another light lit up to his right. It was several kilometers away, possibly longer than that, but he'd always had a relatively good line of sight when he was in his element. This light gave off a strong pull, but it wasn't trying to pull anyone away from what they were doing, not like the black hole. Instead, it was counterbalancing the black hole so that its insidious pull no longer threatened their operation. He didn't have the time or the inclination to figure out who or what the new light was for now. He had a job to do.

**298. Stonewashed**

Sam missed his brother, he missed Jimmy every day that he didn't see him. Finding out about the Jim Kirk of this universe and how he lived and died didn't do anything but make him miss his little brother more. Jimmy wasn't some near mythological person like these people seemed to believe. He was just a young boy, barely a teenager and needing his family now more than ever.

Sam could barely feel his link to his brother or to his keeper. Hoshi was with Sam and Sam, more than anything, wished that Hoshi was with Suisei right now. Not just because the two girls were sisters, but because Suisei was with Jimmy and if Hoshi were with her sister, then she would be with Jimmy too. But she wasn't, Hoshi was with him. He knew that she wanted to get back to Jimmy just as much as he did, probably more so, if that was possible, but there wasn't any way that they could see that happening.

He was grateful for Hoshi saving them and finding them a ship filled with good people and she had helped them as well. He knew that she had just about killed herself in one of the only ways possible for her kind to be killed to help those that she was with. She had turned herself into nothing more than a source of energy for the people on this ship in an effort to save and protect them to the best of her ability while keeping them unaware of who or what she was. They had only found and pulled her away from killing herself for them because they were good people and cared more for the lives of those they didn't know than they did about whatever benefit they could get just for themselves.

So, yes, Sam missed his little brother every day that he didn't see him, sometimes every hour when he wasn't feeling well or charitable towards anyone or anything. He was especially reminded of this when he met someone, when he fell in love and when they got married.

The first time he held his firstborn in his arms and looked down into blurry blue eyes, one of the first things to cross his mind was how much he wanted Jimmy here with him to see the newest member of their family.

**299. Strawberry**

Sam knew that he needed to protect Jimmy, had known it since his mother first put her into his arms and told him that as his big brother it was his job to take care of Jimmy. Even if it meant he would protect Jimmy from her and she had been very serious about that. She knew what could happen to her because of the broken Bond in her mind and she didn't want her sons to get hurt because she wasn't all there. Sami had looked into the still-blurry blue eyes of his little brother and promised his mother that he would do his best. He had meant it, but he, like all children who haven't had to worry too much, not always done the best job that he could have. He wasn't perfect and while he was smart, he wasn't smart the same way his mother or even his little brother were.

When Tarsus IV happened, he tried to protect his brother, but Jimmy was a lot better at protecting everyone and leading them. Sam knew that Jimmy was better at it and that he would be able to save more children than Sam ever could. Sam could help Jimmy best by following him and putting what knowledge Sam had about plants and what was poisonous and what was even the littlest bit edible to use. Sam had no problems letting Jimmy lead, because it was something that Jimmy was more than good at.

When Sam held his daughter in his arms for the first time, he remembered what his mother had told him and he looked over at his wife and knew that he would do anything to protect these people. Just like he would have done anything and everything to protect Jimmy. If Jimmy would have let him, Sam would have wrapped that kid in lamb's wool and kept him tucked away from the world. He had looked down at that little toddler the first time he had tried to make something out of their old microwave and he had known then and there that he wouldn't succeed in stopping that boy from doing anything and everything that he wanted.

Jimmy had never been the type of kid to be sheltered or stand behind some protector. That was part of why Sam hadn't been as vigilant over his little brother as he might have been otherwise. It helped that Sam knew Hoshi would be watching over Jimmy and that she was a lot better at keeping him alive during all of his little 'experiments.'

_"Sir, are you sure about this?"_

Sam Kirk looked out at the ships that were doing their level best to outrun the Borg ships in the Sol System. "Yes, I am. You just get all those people, those kids out of here. That's an order, Hoshi."

**300. Sugar Plum**

"Once, when I was still young, I watched a ballet that had several different dances, but one of the dances that always struck me was the dance of the sugar plum fairies. They seemed sad to me for some reason."

"Sad? Why would that dance be sad?"

"Because it looks like they don't know what sorrow is, what real sorrow is, and without that knowledge you can't really know what happiness or joy is."

"But this ballet is about hope."

"Hope for whom? Hope can only be for you when you choose it to be so. The people did not have enough hope to fight without an outsider coming in or a 'lost prince' coming out. Hope is something that you must have in yourself in order for it to be true hope."

"'True hope?'"

**301. Sunburnt Cyclops**

The Borg Queen stared in fury as the Vulcan system came into view. There was some strange energy that was growing from around the system's main planet. There was an obvious globe of energy growing around the planet. She didn't know what it was, but she knew that it wouldn't, couldn't be good for her and her drones. The only part that looked good at the moment was the fact that there weren't any starships of her enemies in the Vulcan system. It looked like many had landed and all but turned their engines off on the planet Vulcan and that those that hadn't had gone somewhere else.

She didn't know what was going on, but she was going to find out and she was going to crush the spirit of the Alpha Quadrant by taking the last of the Federation's Founder planets.

Resistance was futile.

**302. Sunglow**

Solaris reached out with what little of herself she had left and gave those trying to move a planet from one timeline and universe to another and leave a black hole in its place. This would be the last time that she would be able to do anything like this. Her energy had already been spread thin with the different projects she had aided throughout the years that she had been little more than a spiritual energy being drifting throughout different parts of what was now referred to as the Alpha Quadrant. She had never really gone out of it except for that small time when she'd been swept up in the energy ribbon that moved about on its own.

That had been the closest she'd been to any of her family in a long time and she had reveled in the connections that had been made, even if they would never know it. She knew it and it was enough for her.

Now she reached out with what she had left and added it to the energy globe around the planet of Vulcan. She smiled as Comet, her Comet, reacted to her presence and gave an acknowledging flare of aura. She grinned even more when she felt an answering flare of energy from the other Comet. The other Comet, not hers, didn't reach out to Solaris, but to the young man was the new Solaris.

**303. Sunny Pearl**

Jim wasn't going to give up, but he didn't think it would make a difference.

Then something amazing happened.

He felt energy from someone he had never even known reach out and boost what they were doing. It felt…feminine, like what his paternal aunt had felt like when coaching him through his exercises as a teen, but stronger, far stronger. Whoever she was, she wasn't reaching out to him, she was reaching out to Guardian Comet and also towards what he knew was Vulcan on the other side of the rift in time they were creating. He felt Comet's surprise and then her overwhelming joy and acknowledgement of the giver. He didn't spend the energy to ask who or what it was.

Then something even more amazing, to him at least, happened.

He felt Suisei, who should have been dead, reach out to him and he knew that he was crying even if he wasn't able to do more than acknowledge it.

**304. Sunset Orange**

Suisei knew that this would end her, but she also knew that this would be a way for her to go without actually having to go. She'd still be as alive as she currently was (though that wasn't really a whole lot) and she'd be able to contact Hoshi at some point in the future when she'd rebuilt her reserves. It would probably be sometime in the next millennium or so and she'd probably never really be able to come home, but there was always hope in something turning out a little differently.

Hadn't that been their hope back during the late Twentieth Century when dealing with the different reproductions of Chaos and their personalities? There had been so many times when they just knew that they were going to fail this time and the Earth was going to be enslaved or destroyed or any other number of different things. But it hadn't happened; they had been able to defeat their enemies and find hope for a new future.

Every sunset would rise again the next morning.

**305. Sunset Pearl**

It worked, against all the odds both in their favor and against it, it worked.

Many of Kirk's crew would joke and say that of course it worked. If Jim Kirk and his crew were going to go against the odds then _of course_ it would work! They didn't talk like this around anyone who wasn't a member of their crew as they had seen just as many times when things hadn't gone in their favor, but it helped them to make it through those times be being able to laugh about themselves in a safe, for them, environment.

Just because it worked didn't mean that there weren't casualties along the way.

**306. Surf's Up**

Hoshi saw them coming, but was unable to do anything more than that. She knew that unless the Borg had found some way to breach her energy globe or syphon said energy out of the globe, they wouldn't really be able to do much. They could fight against the energy globe, thus destroying them and also adding yet another distraction to her concentration. This time it might add the final distraction needed to disrupt her work.

She closed her eyes and looked only with the eyes of her soul and knew then that she would die in this attempt, but she hoped that the final burst of energy of her life ending would be enough to tip the scales and move this planet to a safer time and place. Her death was a release of energy that wouldn't really kill her, but it would end her time as a physical entity forevermore.

She didn't get to make that choice.

**307. Sweet Brown**

Spock looked out on his planet, _his_ planet that he never thought he would see again. It was beautiful in a way that he had never imagined and he knew then that this would be the closest he would ever get to being home again. His mother was gone, his father was gone and his chosen family, his friends and crew from his _Enterprise_ were all gone, but this planet was not. He had seen another of his planet, this timeline's Vulcan be destroyed in the sky and been helpless to stop it, knowing that it was his fault.

He knew that he would not be forgiven. He didn't deserve forgiveness, but that didn't mean that he wouldn't still give everything he had left to ensure that others wouldn't feel this pain. It was not an atonement, for he could not reach such a thing, but it was what he would do because there was nothing else to do. Just because you can't find or receive forgiveness is no reason to completely abandon those you have wronged. You must give all you can even if it will never measure up to what you have cost them.

"You have that face again."

Spock startled and turned around, not quite believing what he was hearing.

"Don't look so shocked, elf. You should have known that I wouldn't allow Vulcan to fall, not while I had breath in my body."

"Doctor McCoy." Spock didn't quite smile, but it was enough for Leonard to pick up on.

"I missed you too, you green hobgoblin." The old Southern doctor cracked a smile as he stood next to his oldest living friend.


	15. Chapter 15

**308. Tan**

Hoshi had never had a tan before. She couldn't get them, not really. The spray on things of the Twentieth Century didn't work and make her look more orange than the fruit. Suisei had laughed and laughed and laughed that time she'd tried it (which was why she'd do it now and then. Suisei needed to laugh more.)

This was why she was surprised to find herself with a slight tan when she woke up floating in space. She stared at her hands in bafflement before she realized that they were more orange than an actual tan and a small, bittersweet smile broke over her face.

Suisei was asking her to laugh for her, because she wouldn't anymore.

**309. Tart Orange**

"Is everyone all right?"

"We think so. Vulcan disappeared slightly later than we thought it would and a black hole appeared in its place."

"A black hole?"

"It appears that things in the other timeline, universe, whatever we're calling it now, isn't exactly the same here. We're not sure where the differences started, not like we were with the Mirror Universe."

"Do we even have a name for the new timeline-thing?"

"Not yet. We haven't been able to send anyone to find out what happened, exactly, to the Borg ships that we picked up entering the Vulcan system before the switch occurred."

"Maybe if we're lucky, they got sucked into the black hole and destroyed."

"As long as they didn't get pulled into the other timeline."

**310. Taupe**

Fawn smiled at her friends when the dome of light that she knew encompassed the entire planet flashed out of existence. It had worked, there was no other way the dome could be gone and have no Borg cubes landing. It had to have worked. She was just a small child, a half-Vulcan that was strange in her creation and existence.

They were safe now, and she didn't need to worry about her planet anymore. She would not need to be called upon to Activate herself or her abilities and would have the time and training to come into her powers at a more natural pace. She would still train and do her best to be able to protect her planet and its myriad of people. She had been taught that such a thing was not just her duty, but also her privilege.

"Do you think everyone survived the transition?"

Fawn glanced back at her friend and smiled sadly, "No, but we are safe because of their sacrifice and choices. We should honor them."

**311. Teal Blue**

Jim had never been more relieved in his life when he felt and saw the transition of what was a black hole fade away into the planet Vulcan. It wasn't the same planet that he had been to as a teen and later a young man. It was older and somehow both more sorrowful and full of joy at the same time. As if it were an old man that had found his home again after decades of servitude.

It didn't hurt that he could feel Hoshi strong and clear in his head and in his soul once again. He saw the other Guardians or Senshi that floated in space around him and his compatriots. He saw the gaps in their circle that mirrored his own circle and knew that there had been more of them before the transition. He didn't need to even glance at his own circle to know that Comet was still there, but fading fast if she didn't receive care. She had put too much of herself into this in a way to protect the others. She was the only completely Active Guardian, but she was no Senshi.

He had never been more grateful for his ship and his crew than he was when they started beaming the survivors of the individuals from space onto the ship. Bones was already there and shouting out orders as he worked on the injured and depleted. Jim was able to get in one small smile at this before he, too, passed out from energy exhaustion.

**312. Thistle**

"How did you do it?"

"I don't really know. There were so many things happening all at once and I knew that if I stopped to think about it, I would fail. We would all fail and it would be my fault."

"Jim, you're not perfect, you don't have to be."

"I know that and I know it wasn't all on me, except that it was."

"…"

"I know who I am and I know what I am and I know that this was something I had to do."

"Jim, it wasn't your fault. What happened before wasn't you fault!"

"Yes, it was."

**313. Tickle Me Pink**

Fawn is more than awed when she finally meets her new uncle. He's tall and has blonde hair and blue eyes and looks so close to her daddy that she can't stop the tackle-hug that is initiated when she sees him across the room for the first time. He takes her tackle-hug pretty well and even swings her around for a moment before setting her on the ground and asking what her name is and where she's supposed to be. He asks all of this with a smile and it's half-way through his question that their eyes meet.

They both stop and the disbelief that spreads across their faces is identical before they are hugging again. He's laughing and crying and so is she. They both had wondered if they'd ever get to meet and the actual meeting is more than a dream come true.

It's more than they could have ever hoped for.

Hoshi watches this from the sidelines and the smile on her face leaves her cheeks aching for the rest of the day.

**314. Tiger's Eye**

Sam hadn't meant to fall in love, especially not with someone who was kind of like Saavil's great-grandniece or something like that. (They were in the same family on Vulcan, but the Vulcans had really extensive extended families.) He'd been a little intimidated when he'd asked her father if he could have her hand in marriage, especially as it was before he'd realized that the father in question was the Head of Security on the ship that had saved him.

She was something else and when she held their baby for the first time, he didn't think he'd ever felt a happier feeling from their Bond than that moment. It eclipsed their wedding ceremony, which he knows meant a lot to her. It meant the same to him and he could feel their Bond prove it to him whenever he though too hard about it.

He'd taken a look at his daughter, their daughter and mentioned that she reminded him of a show he'd seen as a child. When he'd shown his wife the show, she'd agreed that their daughter was a lot like that little fawn moments after he'd been born. She'd had no problem with giving their daughter the nickname Fawn, even though that became more her name than the one on her birth records.

**315. Timberwolf**

Many people in the Academy had referred to Jim Kirk as a lone wolf, saying that he was there to have fun or to show up everyone in any way he possibly could. Whilst the second two things were kind of true (he wasn't ashamed of his attitude or about how smart he was or about how he chose to live at that point), the first one, the one about him being a lone anything, was not. He just had a very small pack that had been larger at one point but had been whittled down over the years by time and circumstance.

The one thing true about the wolf statement was that he was fiercely loyal to those he cared for and would fight tooth and nail long past the point of defeat in order to protect them. It is argued by some that it was this trait that allowed him to bring one planet from another time and place and switch it out with a black hole.

He hadn't done it alone, not by any stretch of the imagination, but he was one of the better known names attached to the incident, so he was usually mentioned first when it was talked about.

**316. Toolbox**

When Jim was young, when he was still just Jimmy, he could fix just about anything that wasn't really alive with anything he had on hand. Once he fixed the electric generator at his childhood home with floss and a few odds and ends lying around the house. Their power had gone out in the wee hours of the morning because of a heavy snowstorm that had blown in out of Canada. Jim hadn't been very good with plants that had been Sam's area.

Sam had been able to save just about any plant from dying and help it to grow better, faster and bigger. If he'd wanted to, Sam could have entered and won every state fair that ever existed with how well he could raise something. It had been his skills with plants that had helped their little group find most of their food or even try to grow some when on Tarsus. Losing him amongst all the others in their failed attempt to do a version of the Sailor Teleport that they had learned about from their aunt had been an almost crippling blow to those left behind.

If Jimmy hadn't spent as much time as he could trying to learn even a small section of those skills from Sam both before and then during that time…

It didn't really bare thinking about.

**317. Tropical Rain Forest**

When Jim finally came to on the _Enterprise_ in her Medical Bay he wasn't surprised by Bones hovering over him with such a menacing look on his face. It looked like Bones was trying to decide which hypo to hit him with at the moment even though Jim was well aware that this was Bones being grateful that he had woken up and not slipped into a coma but was still mad that Jim had done this to himself. He was also aware that Bones knew that Jim had, had no other choice but to do what he did, that didn't mean he had to like the ending results. He was a good friend like that.

"Who didn't make it?"

Bones frowns, "Can't this wait until you're better rested?" His facial expressions let Jim know that Bones is going to be stubborn about this, but then again, he usually is.

"I'm going to find out anyway, why wait?"

Bones's frown deepens and he lets out an exasperated sigh, but complies, listing off the names of those that he knows about. There are names that he doesn't recognize and Bones clarifies that they are those lost from the other team that helped to move Vulcan. Of their side, they really only have Comet to worry about.

She had slipped into a coma that Bones wasn't sure she would ever wake from.

**318. Tulip**

T'seng loved her husband and would until the day she died. She would probably love him even when she was within the Katric Arc and she would never feel ashamed of her emotions. Her father had taught her that it her emotions were natural and that she should never be ashamed of them, but that she should never let them control her. Vulcans were very dangerous when they weren't in control of themselves.

She hadn't fully understood what he meant until he had vanished along with the entire ship he'd been stationed on. They hadn't heard from him for several years, but her mother had insisted that he was still alive. She would have felt the break in their Bond if he had died. Not many believed her, but her children had. Even some on Vulcan had not believed her mother, but they had, for the most part, been professional when in her presence or any of her children's presence.

She understands further when her husband dies so that so many can escape, including their young infant daughter. She had nothing more than a year or two, almost three with him, and she will have no other while she waits for her death to reunite her with him.

**319. Tumbleweed**

Comet didn't want to wake up; she wanted to drift away and never have to have another conscious thought in her head. She wanted to be free to drift around as nothing more than the particles of gathered dust that are her comets streaking through the universe. She's so very tired of being corporeal and having to worry about things when she's lost everything and anything that she had in her life.

She knows that there are those who are trying to wake her, trying to heal her, but she is doing everything she can to get her body to reject whatever medicine they are giving her. She wants to slip away. She knows that her body will dematerialize when she dies and that her atoms will then begin a journey throughout this galaxy. The best part is that she won't be as conscious of what is happening until enough of her atoms come into contact again.

She wonders if this is what happened to _her_ Solaris. The Solaris she felt reaching out to her during the switch. She tries not to feel bitter about it.

**320. Turquoise Blue**

Hoshi is one of the first to wake, mostly because she can feel the reconnections form between her and the rest of the stars in her home universe. The other stars had been kind to her and given her their energy because they recognized her, even if she wasn't theirs, but nothing can replace the feeling of your own universe. Especially when you're kind of the physical form of the stars that makes up that universe. The connections to the other stars are still there, far in the back of her mind, but they aren't anywhere near as bright as the ones from her own universe.

She is the second person to awaken after being knocked out. Jimmy (or Jim now) is the first. The almost senshi of Romulus and Vulcan are both awake, but in meditation as Vulcan re-actualizes his connection with his planet. It shouldn't take longer than an hour or so, but they're probably also taking the time to really rest. They haven't been able to do this since before they met, Hoshi knows, so she doesn't begrudge them this time.

She's by Jimmy's (Jim's, she really needs to remember that he's all grown up now and, and saving Earth) side as soon as her eyes finish opening. This does not endear her to his Chief Medical Officer, but it makes just about everyone else on the bridge laugh or chuckle or do their kind of equivalent of it.

Jimmy grins at her like she did the first time he took a shaky step on his own. She returns the grin with one of her own. It's been too long.

**321. Turquoise Pearl**

"You need to return to the Medical Bay and get checked over."

"I'm fine, I wouldn't have been able to teleport myself here if I wasn't."

"I don't care how you feel; you're going to the Medical Bay with me right. Now." Dr. McCoy looked more firm than Hoshi had seen someone look in a very long time.

She caved and allowed him to drag her, gently, back to the Medical Bay while Jimmy followed along, laughing the whole way.

**322. Twilight Lavender**

"If we can't get her to wake up, I'm afraid that we're going to lose her."

"Nothing's worked?"

"Nothing. Everything we try, her body fights off or metabolizes so quickly that it's starting to get ridiculous."

"She won't wake by herself."

"Well, if she doesn't, then she's going to die."

"There _has_ to be _something_ we can do! She's done so much just to help us!"

"Jim, I'm not a miracle worker! I'm not you and I don't have whatever fancy little powers that you have. I'm not a Vulcan with touch telepathy! There is nothing more I can do to help Guardian Comet unless she wants me to."

"…"

"At the moment, it looks like she only wants one thing. To die."

**323. Twister**

Captain Kirk finished his current duty shift and nodded to his crew as he left the bridge. He made his way down to the little used Observation Deck, the smaller one that he hadn't been able to visit in what seemed like a year, but was probably not quite that long. (Though it was close.) He didn't pause this time when he registered the same man that had been there one of the last times he'd been able to stop by it.

"I see that things worked out."

"Not quite. I know we lost people from the other side, and we can't seem to get one of the few still injured to start caring about her own survival."

"That's what I'm here about, actually."

Jim looked into his eyes.

"I'd like to make a visit, but I didn't want to step on any toes." The man in front of him smirked.

**324. T-Shirt Green**

Fawn loved her life, she loved working with the new people that had joined Vulcan's population and she loved spending time with her Uncle Jim. Her mother was also very pleased to meet her Uncle Jim, even if her face stayed very bland during the introductions. Fawn was fairly certain that her Uncle had seen the joy in her mother's eyes. He seemed pretty good at interpreting Vulcan mannerisms; she figured it was his First Officer's fault, being Vulcan and all. Actually, his First Officer was a lot like Fawn, he was half and half between a Vulcan and a human. He was a lot more Vulcan in his genetic makeup than she was, but not by much.

She liked Uncle Jim's crew and all his friends, even the ones that weren't on his ship with him and that she met, for the moment, over a comm system. Some of those friends were friends with her father when he had been alive and she was even more glad to meet them. They had stayed in contact with her Uncle.

Her absolute favorite new friend was someone Pavel. He was the youngest member of her Uncle's crew and the closest person to her actual age at the moment that wasn't also from Vulcan. He was super smart, just like her, but he knew how to focus on things better than she did. Her mother told her that this was because he was older and had more time to discipline his mind than Fawn had. Fawn didn't mind this and she followed Pavel around almost as religiously as she followed her Uncle around.

One day, she followed him into the Medical Bay. It was time for Pavel's monthly checkup, and afterwards they were going to go for ice cream in the Mess Hall. He'd tried convincing her that she didn't need to come with him, but she had insisted that all kids should have someone with them when going to see the doctor. Even kids that were sort of like grownups. It was the same argument that her mother used to convince her to go see a doctor in the first place for Fawn's checkups. T'seng mentioned on more than one occasion that Fawn's father was like this and that all of his family had been like this, even though T'seng hadn't been able to meet any of her husband's biological family until just recently. Fawn took great pride in being like her father in this regard, even if such a thing was illogical.

She was slightly surprised to see a teen that didn't look quite as old as Pavel in one of the biobeds. She glanced around and made sure no one would notice if she wandered over there and then made her way over. She looked very young and yet old at the same time, though Fawn wasn't sure how she knew that, she just did.

"Hello?"

There was no answer, so Fawn placed one of her hands on the girl's pale, motionless one.

**325. UFO Green**

She screamed as some kind of force wrenched through her mind and soul and everything that she had left.

She knew this energy, knew it on a level that was so far above all others that there were really only two levels left that this level didn't cover.

When she woke up (and she was going to wake up now, no matter how much she didn't want to) she was going to hung that pathetic piece of space…whatever (she didn't have the focus of mind to properly curse him out at the moment, it hurt that much) and she was going to make him suffer for putting her through this agony.

She ignored the fact that it was agony because she was going to live when she wanted to die.

**326. Unmellow Yellow**

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY PATIENT!?"

Wow, the last time Bones had sounded this mad was when he found out that Jim had been nearly killed several times in less than 24 hours. That was also when they managed to not save Vulcan (the first time) and yet managed to save Earth. Jim was not looking forward to another episode of Bones Is Going To Kill Whoever It Is That Has Caused His Extreme…maybe he'd think of a name for this later.

The best part about this explosion was that it wasn't aimed at him, for once.

"Now, now, Doctor, I would think that you would appreciate the fact that I just saved your patient's life."

"THAT IS NOT WHAT I ASKED!"

The man standing in front of the enraged doctor smirked, "I know, but it's so much fun to aggravate you."

Jim backed away from the two and came to stand next to Guardian Comet's bed, making sure that she was still in the process of waking up, but no longer thrashing about in pain. He kept his other eye on the argument between Bones and Q.


	16. Chapter 16

**Author's Note:** Turned out it was easier to lump a couple of the letters together so that I wouldn't have to deal with tiny chapters showing up. So, instead of 26 chapters I ended up with only 16. *Shrugs* It worked out in the end, I guess. I'm not even sure there is someone reading this note in this chapter. Well, if someone did read this far, I hope that it was enjoyable for you. It certainly was for me to write it.

**327. Violet (Purple)**

"Why did you do it?" her voice is soft, quiet.

"Would you have allowed someone to stay like that? To die without doing everything you could to save them?"

"Save me? You think you saved me? You have done the opposite." Her voice is still soft, hollow now.

"Why do you choose this way?"

"What way? Is there something wrong with the way I have been doing things?" her voice is soft, bitter. "Who are you to tell me what to do? To tell me what is right and wrong?"

"Who better than I?"

"You, you who think you know all and can control all when you can't!" her voice is soft, intense. "You who have never had to watch people grow old and die and know that you will never join the ones you love because you are one who loves nothing and everything and the individuals aren't important-"

"Wrong." He interrupts, his voice still at normal levels and disgustingly cheerful. "You know that is wrong. You are angry and just want me to go away, so you think that being like this, being wrong, will drive me away because nothing else ever has."

"Shut up. You know nothing of what it is I _want_." Her voice rises at last, demanding that he give in. "I _want_ and I _want_ and I _want, but it will never be enough! I am alone and you will not let me go! You who has everything and yet nothing and will not let me have peace!"_

"Death will not bring you peace."

**328. Violet Blue**

Maria liked her new home, she liked being able to be around people that were kind to her and didn't treat her as if she was slower than everyone else. She was well aware that she was missing something in her day to day interactions with people as well as the way she thought about things. That didn't change the fact that she wasn't stupid. If anything, she was rather intelligent even if her emotions and reactions to things could be described as 'simple.' She liked working with the other kids and learning what she could from the group that she met with every day.

She was sad when Vulcan and Romulus had to leave for an important meeting and that she wouldn't see them for a while. She was told that if the meeting went well, she would be able to see JT again! She was far more excited about that. She hadn't seen JT in so long now! She took every chance to talk to Fawn about JT, telling her everything she knew about him, which wasn't much, but it was more than Fawn had. Maria and Fawn got along surprisingly well and Naomi was always glad to have the little toddler with them as well.

Maria couldn't wait to see everyone again. She couldn't wait to be home, well and truly home. _Voyager_ had been nice and now living on Vulcan wasn't bad either, but she missed Tarsus IV. She felt like something was missing without it.

**329. Violet Red**

The world went dark and Maria tried her hardest not to panic. The last time her world had gone dark even close to like this, she had lost JT and half of their group. They had been saved by the crew of _Voyager_ and she had made lots of new friends, but the initial loss of half of her 'family' still scared her more than the benefits could outweigh the cost. She didn't want to lose anyone else and she knew that she didn't yet have the skills nor the energy to stop such a thing from happening.

She had been separated from her celestial energy course for too long and unlike Hoshi, she didn't have a counterpart for her planet in the timeline they were in now. She was well and truly alone with only the energy in her little body to work with.

That didn't stop her from feeling what Hoshi and several others were trying to do and throwing what little energy she had up to them. She passed out thirty minutes into the transition and she didn't wake for three days. When she did wake, she could feel her planet, her little colony throbbing quietly in the back of her head and she spent at least thirty minutes crying in joy.

**330. Vivid Tangerine**

"I hate you."

"You know you really love me."

"No, I really, really hate you. I'm going to stand up away from this medical professional and walk over to where you are standing and then I'm going to kill you. Very slowly and painfully. You will regret doing this for every minute of it."

"You wouldn't be able to kill me, that's so far above your pay grade that it's ridiculous."

"We don't even get paid for what we do."

"That isn't the point and well you know it, missy."

"Every time you call me 'missy' it makes me want to shove you into a super nova."

**331. Vivid Violet**

Jim watched the interaction between Guardian Comet and Q and wondered, not for the first time, just who or what Q was to the Guardians and Senshi out in the Universe. Q had visited him a few times when he'd been a small boy, not often and usually he chatted with Hoshi or Suisei for a little bit. Q hadn't ever talked with Jim's mother or uncle or anyone else that Jim had seen, just those two sisters. He had been surprised when Q first showed up to talk to _him_. Hoshi had been long gone and Suisei had gone down with Vulcan. Q hadn't shown any interest in getting to know Jim prior to those incidents.

Q had checked on what Jim was doing at the time and just chatted about this and that. Sometimes he'd hint about something coming, something that even Q wouldn't be able to stop, but what that something was remained unclear.

Until now.

Vulcan was back in space; well, not the same Vulcan as the one that had been destroyed, but close enough to not make as much a difference to the surviving Vulcans. It helped a lot that there were now more Vulcans in this galaxy due to the Vulcans from the other timeline coming through with their planet. Not all of them had come, but enough to give the resident population a boost.

Jim wondered how long Q had been planning this when he saw the smug smirk on his face. He didn't ask, it didn't really matter in the end.

**332. Warm And Fuzzy**

Tom was more than ecstatic when the _Enterprise_ showed up with several new colonists, plus one. The new colonists had better technology than Tom had been able to get from the Federation, even with Tarsus IV being one of the main locations for the Vulcan survivors, who didn't all leave for Vulcan once the planet was deemed stable enough. Some of the survivors stayed as they had already restarted their lives on the Tarsus IV colony and didn't want to uproot again.

The part that really made his year (not day, it was big enough to make the whole year) was that Maria was home. She came down via transporter with Jim and a bunch of other people. Hoshi was there too, but Tom hadn't missed her as much as he had missed Maria. That wasn't meant as a slight against Hoshi, it was just the way it was. He had been closer to Maria and she was the first one he thought about other than JT when he thought about those weeks that seemed to last longer than a year in recollection.

He didn't even think about it, as soon as he saw her; he was up and across the room lifting her up and into his arms as he twirled her around and around as he hugged her close to his chest. They weren't family, hadn't even known each other before JT had saved them from different parts of the colony after the kill orders had been given. They hadn't spent any more time together than Tom had spent with just about anyone else in their group. Considering the fact that she had been part of the group that had disappeared during their failed self teleport several days, almost a week, before Starfleet had finally made it to Tarsus IV, he had actually spent a little less time with her than some of the others.

That didn't make him miss her less or feel less joyful when he finally had her in his arms once again a decade later. Now, for the first time in more than ten years, he was home. She was on Tarsus IV with him and that made this planet so much more than just a colony. Maria made it home.

**333. White**

Tarsus IV had been struggling since Starfleet had found it in the wake of the Massacre. It had started to get a little better when Tom had come and taken over the governorship of the colony. It had done slightly better when several Vulcan families had also joined the colony and brought with them technology and more support from Starfleet. Throughout all of this, the planet didn't fight against them, not like Tom knew other planets had fought against colonists in the past. It didn't fight against them trying to revitalize it, but it didn't try to help them succeed either.

It was almost like the planet that had been his fresh start as a teenager that had cradled him and helped him find a family, was dying. Like it didn't care anymore and he didn't know what to do about it. He'd mentioned it to Jim several times in his comms to the other man, but Jim hadn't been able to help him find a way to make the planet care. It was like whatever it was that made a planet alive, that made it want to unthaw in the spring and grow. Tom knew that scientifically planets didn't have a soul or a life force that was measurable by any of their laws or theories. But Tom also knew, knew it after knowing JT and everything that the younger male had done for him and the others in their group that there was a soul, an entity that was aware within the planet.

If Tom could connect with that soul within the planet, then he would be able to do so much more for not only the colonists, but the planet itself. Because the planet had given up and it was letting itself die. This planet was all he had left of his family, the part of their family that they had lost. When he was trying to help the planet and the colony then he felt closer to his family even those that he knew were scattered throughout the known quadrant. Tom would do anything for his family; the family that not had be chosen, but that had chosen him right back.

**334. Wild Blue Yonder**

Comet floated in outer space mostly motionless and with her comm firmly being ignored. She didn't acknowledge any of the hails that she was receiving and was actually kind of close to pulling the thing off and destroying it so that she wouldn't have to listen to any of the annoying chirps that the machine was giving off. She didn't want to talk to anyone right now, especially not the people that would actually need the comm units to talk with her. If someone wanted to talk with her, then they would have to join her out here, free floating, all others were going to be ignored.

She had ranted and raved at her 'uncle' and then at the medical professionals that had helped that demented mad-being bring her back from her carefully pushed brink of physical dissolution. She'd really been looking forward to not having an actual physical body for the next thousand years or so. She had wanted to explore in ways that hadn't been done yet, or if they had then they hadn't been recorded very well.

Now she was still stuck in her physical self and she had no way of changing that. It had been a fail-safe that her 'mother' had installed in Comet and her sister. They weren't really able to be suicidal unless that was the only way to carry out their mission and even then, there were certain protocols that had to have failed already. She had worked long and hard on those inner protocols until they weren't really the same thing once she'd realized just what the transition for one planet in exchange for a black hole that used to be the same planet just in another timeline would be. She would likely never get another such opportunity that wouldn't involve one of their mortal enemies, like the Borg, getting their hands on her body for even a millisecond. That one millisecond would be all that the Borg would need to get something beneficial for them.

She was so tired, and it looked like she wouldn't get her thousand year nap any time soon.

She hated her uncle and quite possibly her new Solaris as well.

**335. Wild Strawberry**

Maria was overjoyed to be home, to feel the planet wake and begin to move beneath her. "Did you miss me, Tarsus? I missed you, so so much. Yes I did." She sang out as she skipped around Tom's backyard.

She could feel the planet greet her back in its own special way and she hummed along with its heartbeat. It was a cheerful tune that sounded like it hadn't been playing hardly anything other than funeral dirges since she'd been away. She hoped that she didn't ever have to leave her home like that again because she didn't want to make the planet this sad ever again. She didn't mean to ignore her friends that were with her right now, but she needed to do this and she knew that, though they might not fully know what she was doing, they would understand that it was important to her and so would wait.

She smelt like wild strawberries and blackberries and blueberries and wondered, not for the first time, just why this planet had chosen her out of all the others.

**336. Wild Watermelon**

Jim watched as Maria twirled around and knew then that everything would be all right in his almost-home. He could feel the planet coming alive all around him and looking at the people that didn't have his sensitivity around him, he knew that they could feel it as well.

"What is she doing?"

"She's reconnecting with Tarsus IV."

Naomi looked slightly confused before glancing at the people around her, shrugging and going back to reading the book in her lap to a curious Fawn. Naomi's mother smiled at her daughter and also turned back to her conversation with Fawn's mother. They wouldn't be here much longer than a week, but it was nice to be around friends and not have to worry about work for the moment.

**337. Winter Sky**

Q knew that his 'niece' was angry with him, that she would take the first, and probably only, chance to strike back at him as soon as she could. She would probably hate him for the rest of her life or at least until she was able to reunite with her other half. Of course, in order to do that she would probably have to shed the majority of her physical body or at least temporarily disconnected from it while it was in the safest location.

He ducked the energy beam that she shot at him and then dodged the fiery chunk of ice that would have hit him in the head and burned off his current face. He'd be able to regrow the skin in next to no time, but it wasn't good to encourage this kind of retaliation. He continued to duck and dodge and in a few places actually accept the hits before he turned the tables on her and brought her into a spread eagle position, making sure that she wasn't going to lash out at him any more by making sure that her wrists and ankles were shackled with a specific type of material. It wouldn't cut off the circulation of anything, but it would temporarily stop her from focusing her energy through them with intent to attack.

"You really need to stop this juvenile behavior. We both know that you are far too old to be acting like this." He stepped forward, his well-known smirk completely absent from his face and his eyes and his voice for once. He was more serious than he had been in a long time.

She sneered at him and didn't even try to release herself. It wouldn't have taken more than five minutes and that was the most time it would ever take her to get out of this material. It wasn't like he had grounded the material in such a way that would stop her from teleporting herself out of it.

"You always have to be in control, don't you? You couldn't let just one little thing go!"

He sighed as if she were a small child that insisted on being unruly, "This isn't about me being in control, though I will grant that what you said is usually the reasoning behind whatever thing I'm focusing on at the moment. I'm worried about you because you have been exposed to many things in the last few months and haven't really been able to have a grounding influence for your mind and abilities."

"What do you care?"

"I care a great deal. I 'borrowed' you, for lack of a better word, and I would hate to return you in this condition."

"I could really care less what you want."

"You normally would care, that's part of why I know you aren't acting like this because you want to. You need help, niece."

"I don't need anything, least of all from you!"

"You know that's not true, you just don't want to admit it." He shrugged and a pained smile flitted across his face before it returned to its serious impassiveness. "You do need help, Comet, and while I'm probably not the one who can help you, I do know someone who can."

**338. Winter Wizard**

Hoshi followed Jim around everywhere and wouldn't leave him alone, unless she was with Fawn, who also followed Jim about almost everywhere. In the end, most of the time it was a moot point, Jim had two shadows who were both shorter than him and yet curious about everything and anything. Hoshi was more curious about the people that were around Jim both at work and when he was off duty. Fawn was curious about everything, but wouldn't stop when she wanted to push a button, which was often. Hoshi was able to stop her most of the time; after all, Hoshi had kept Jim from getting into too much trouble as a precocious child, Fawn was a lot like Jim had been, and still was.

"Fawn, dear, don't press that button, please."

"Why? What's it do?"

"That launches torpedoes."

"How do you know that?"

"It's in the same spot as it's always been in and Jim hasn't corrected me yet, so I must be right."

"What it Uncle Jim's playing a trick on you?"

"He'd have caved by now. He's always liked it when he looks right and I look wrong."

Jim smiled to himself as he listened to their conversation.

**339. Wintergreen Dream**

Comet was angry and sad and all kinds of things. That didn't last long, though, because she was being knocked out by Vulcan and Romulus and then transported back onto the nearest ship which was the battleship _Defiant_ and then placed in the Medical Bay there. Doctor Bashir was looking her over and then moving on to make sure that she was going to be out for a while. He nodded to Vulcan and Romulus.

"Thank you for bringing her back in. We'll prep the ship to launch in about thirty minutes so you might want to get back down on Vulcan."

They nodded and exchanged short goodbyes before leaving for the transporter room. Doctor Bashir took in a deep breath and then let it out slowly. This wasn't over, not yet. The Borg knew how to get to this timeline and they knew that the technology of this Alpha Quadrant was nowhere near what it had been in their original one. They had gotten as many people to safety as they could and now it was time to go back and do the best they could to take down the Borg or at least stop them from ever getting here.

The dream wasn't over yet.

**340. Wisteria**

Garak watched as his dearest friends, the only ones he really had left, disappeared and a black whole reappeared in their place. The Borg cubes that had been closing in on the energy-encased planet were sucked in and he was delighted to watch them start to compress before they were completely out of his line of sight. His friends were safe, for now.

He turned his little shuttle and set in the return course to _Deep Space 9_ with barely a thought, running on automatic to make sure that he wasn't detected by anyone or anything and that he kept a radio silence, but recorded any transmissions that happened to pass him by. The Borg were still out there and they were still a threat. They had taken his home planet, his home system his home _everything_ and he wanted to get them back.

The Borg were worse than the Dominion, because you could reason with the Dominion eventually, in some way, but the only way to reason with the Borg was to drop them into fluid space and completely obliterate them from existence.

Garak knew that he was no longer the only exile from Cardassia, and that did not make him happy, it did not make him feel joyful. It only mad him angrier than anything else ever had. Because there was no Cardassia to sneak back onto, not anymore. Not as long as the Borg existed.

**341. Yellow**

There was so much left to do, and it seemed like there was less time than ever in which to do it in. She knew that she was running out of options and that she was going to be stuck out here with her ship and her crew and that-

"Captain!"

"Yes, Ensign Kim."

"We're receiving a transmission, Starfleet carrier wave, but an older model."

"How old?"

"I don't think this code has been used since the Admiral Archer's days as the captain of the _Enterprise_, ma'am. It's just audio, no visual."

"Play it, Ensign."

_"…Repeat, this is the _USS Defiant_ and we are hailing the _USS Voyager_, please respond _Voyager."

There was a beat of silence.

"This is _Voyager_ we read you _Defiant_."

_"You have no idea how glad we are to hear you, _Voyager."

Captain Janeway exchanged a slightly tremulous smile with her first, "I think we do, _Defiant_."

**342. Yellow Green**

It wasn't until long after _Voyager_ had bypassed the outer limits of Neelix's knowledge of the Delta Quadrant that they finally made contact with Starfleet once again. They kept going. The followed what information and intel on the Delta Quadrant that Admiral Janeway had brought with her. They kept going. Hoshi would sneak into the reactor and send the ship careening through space with a control and precision that showed she'd been ghosting Seven in Astronomics and making sure she knew which way she was going.

They received contact with one of the first battleships that Starfleet had built in several decades and it was more than a surprise, it was what made their year. Because they were close enough to the known Alpha Quadrant space to be able to get that transmission without needing to use alien technology.

They were almost home.

**343. Yellow Orange**

"How did you even know where to send the transmission?"

_"We triangulated your position by looking for a large quantity of chronoton particles as well as the specific energy emissions that we have last recorded for Guardian Star."_

"How did you get those readings?"

_"We had your Hoshi's sister's counterpart, Guardian Comet giving them to us. It took us a while to find you and we sent one of our best ships out to reach you in case there were any hostiles."_

**344. Yellow Sunshine**

Hoshi was ejected from the core once again and she didn't look the least bit repentant over it. She rarely did, but that wasn't the point. She hadn't looked this smug about it since the first time they'd ejected her from the core with Admiral Janeway onboard. She didn't care what kind of trouble she got in. Her family was safe and the people who had made that possible were safe. They were even trying to help her get her head together enough to think beyond those two goals.

She had friends, friends that had nothing to do with her charge or her mission or even her duty and life calling. She had friends just because. It was a nice feeling and so when she felt the slight sweep of energy coming from another of her kind and she heard the calling out from the stars they passed, letting her know that someone they knew and she sort of knew, but not really, was trying to find her? She did everything she could to make sure that the person finding her, once the stars assured her that said person was a 'good guy,' could find her and find her quickly.

It had worked. It had worked and Hoshi had no idea what she was getting herself into until she had been back in the Alpha Quadrant for a while and she first learned of the Borg threat. She wasn't too worried about said threat, she'd faced them before and she had confidence that everything would be fine.

After all, what was the worst that could happen?

**345. Yosemite Campfire**

The first thing she did when she returned to herself was to say goodbye. Goodbye to everyone and everything that had helped her stay this long, even if she wasn't really there in the first place. She knew that Comet needed her, needed someone who would be able to pull Comet's head together long enough to keep her alive. She knew that she couldn't be that person, not anymore.

She wasn't too worried, as she floated away to what awaited her. She knew that Comet would have her 'uncle' to look after her.

After all, hadn't he been the one to help Sailor Sun, Princess Solaris hang around long after her physical body was nothing more than dust and her star gone as well?

Her family, her people were in good hands.

**346. Zombie Laundry**

The Queen ground her teeth together in rage. They had escaped, somehow an entire planet had up and escaped, leaving in its place a very hungry black hole that had snapped up her cubes and crushed them into so much space dust before they could engage their propulsion systems. The black hole had seemed to reach out towards her cubes in a way that most black holes _didn't_. It was abnormal and the Borg and anything or anyone else they'd ever assimilated had never seen a black hole react like that.

She hadn't been able to fully take the Alpha Quadrant and had actually lost a good size of her drones and cubes and spheres trying to take systems only to have them blow up on her just when she thought she was winning them. She wasn't losing this war, not by any stretch of the imagination (if the Borg had one) but she wasn't so much winning this as her prey was running out of places to run and not blow up.

She would win, if it took her a hundred years, she would take this quadrant and then use it to take the rest of the Delta Quadrant and then lay siege to the Gamma Quadrant that she had picked up information on.

Resistance was futile.


End file.
